The New Girl at Gallagher
by Jojo1981
Summary: There's a new girl at the Gallagher Academy, but she's mysterious, has some previous bad relationship with Zach, and seems to know something about Cammie that she doesn't.  But when a Code Black doesn't do its job, Cammie and her need to stick together.
1. Chapter 1: The New Girl

**Hey this is my first FanFic so I hope you like it!**

_A girl ends up in the Gallagher Academy, and no one knows who she is, or her name. There are lots of rumors about her, and even Cammie can't find out who she is (this is probably staged at some point in the first book, since Macey is there, but there's no Josh – yet.)_

**Please look at it and review I hope you like it!**

**

* * *

**

I was talking to Macey in Swahili, eating a delicious Crème Brule for lunch as Liz went through her note cards, panicking _again_ before CoveOps. Suddenly, the door opens and a girl walks in. I stopped mid-sentence. "Nini katika…?" Macey whispered and I silent-laughed for a minute at her exact translation of _What in the…?_ That she also used a lot in English.

But Liz shook her head and shoulders, and answered, "Ja sam apsolutno nema pojma!" and Bex elbowed her, because Liz had switched to Croatian to tell us that she had absolutely no clue, either. I looked at this girl, who obviously came from somewhere else. She had long, thin legs (okay, I have to admit that strong limbs aren't exactly unpopular here, but still), and super-tanned skin (and _not_ the kind that you get from spray-tan as Mick Morrison did to impress Mr. Solomon) and long, dark-blond curls and big, dark blue eyes. She was wearing our uniform, but I knew that she didn't belong here. I just knew. But she ignored everybody staring at her, and came and sat in the small space between Macey and me.

"Hey. Call me Mandy," was all that she said before she took some Crème Brule and dug in. I looked at Liz incredulously, and she stared back.

"Tko je ona I što ona radi ovdje Cammie?" Liz asked me, still too stunned to switch out of Croatian. And of course, again, she forgot that even though my mother might be the headmistress, and well, my mother, she's also a spy and she doesn't give me any information. I sighed, not answering to Liz's question. I didn't know anything about this girl, no matter how she tried to put things.

Macey answered instead of me, "Liz, quit Kikroeshia!" and I had to agree that Liz was a genius and that she should understand the difference between Swahili and Croatian, and stop the Croatian now that people had pointed it out to her. But Liz just shook her head and looked at Mandy – and that's all that we could call her because that's all we knew. And being spies, not to mention teenage girls, meant that we had to find out more about Mandy. And as I looked at her I knew that it would be hard, because if Mandy understood anything of what we just said – she was new after all, but what did we know? – the girl could keep a poker face. I frowned and looked at my mom, who just shrugged.

I looked at her again, and mouthed, "What the heck? Who is she and what it she doing here?" (Yes okay it was in English, but mouthing doesn't count. Especially now!) But she just shook her head. I rolled my eyes and turned to Mandy. "Hivyo, Mandy! Ninyi ni nani?" And yes, I assumed that she spoke Swahili to ask her who she was.

But to her next reaction, I could only come up with four options:

1) Mandy doesn't speak Swahili and is trying to cover it up by not talking

2) Mandy had something _big and bad_ to hide, so she won't talk

3) Mandy speaks fluently in all languages and understood everything that we said about her – including what I mouthed to my mom?

4) She likes torturing us – classic spy

But as she shook her head and said, "No comment," in _English_ I simply assumed that the first option was correct, and as I looked over to Bex, I knew that she agreed with me. I sighed and asked Liz about the COW homework that she said she had to finish after lunch. But as Liz was answering, I saw Mandy smiled slightly, and I wondered if we should exclude options 2-4. And just by instinct, I knew that we shouldn't.

* * *

**Yeah I know, kind of short, but there's more coming soon, promise! Until then, REVIEW please! This is my first FanFic and I hope you all like it :)**


	2. Chapter 2: Spying

**I promised a quick Chapter 2, and here it is! (I had actually written this before I published, I didn't know how things worked because I'm new and all, so yeah!) It's a direct continuation of chapter 1!**

**Please read it, xoxo!**

**Oh darn, I forgot the disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN THE SERIES. Ally Carter does. Sadly.**

**

* * *

**

After we left the cafeteria, I waited a few seconds, talking some nonsense to Liz about the COW homework, and then I quietly left the great hall and followed Mandy.

CoveOps Report by Cameron Morgan

Operatives: Cameron Morgan, Elizabeth Sutton, Rebecca Baxter, Macey McHenry (hereafter referred to as _The Operatives_)

Report:

The Operatives followed the subject to the library to the Encryption section, where the Subject simply studied the covers of the books, then to the common room, where she introduced herself as "Mandy" to Tina Walters and Mick Morris.

The Operatives got bored to listening to Tina Walter tell Mandy all kinds of things about the Gallagher Academy, but were thinking that Tina shouldn't be giving out everything so easily. After all, no one knew who the girl was.

The Operatives proceeded to following the Subject to the library again, where she went to Encryption section again, and stared at the book titles. Again.

At this point, I was really annoyed at Mandy. Didn't she have anything better to do like – oh, I don't know – go try to send the Gallagher Alumni List to someone or try to break into sublevel three to steal everything or try to steal Gilly's sword? Because those things I could stop her at and demand and explanation. But looking at book titles in your new school's library didn't exactly equal a crime, so all we could do was keep following her.

The Operatives get really annoyed and decide to step in. Operative Sutton walks to the Encryption section, pretending to look for a book, while studying the titles the Subject had been studying for so long (12 minutes, 48 seconds the first time and 27 minutes, 29 minutes the second time until Operative Sutton came in).

"Mandy!" Liz said, surprised. "I'm guessing you like Encryption too? Can I help you find something?" she asked helpfully.

Mandy nodded quietly while Liz was talking. "It's okay," she said finally, after a short silence. "I'm just looking at what you have here."

"Oh, well then, let me show you around! This part of the Encryption section isn't that interesting anyways… Let me help you out."

"It's okay, Liz, really. I'll find my way," her voice seemed sweeter, and I wanted to be able to see her, to be able to look at her face and know if she was lying or not.

"Come on Mandy, I saw you talking to Tina Walters. Don't tell me you enjoy hanging out here!" Liz said with a half-laugh.

"No, really. Just leave me, okay?" Mandy was becoming agitated, but Liz was on a mission, and would push to the limits. Because Liz was a genius, not to mention a girl, so she knew that when a girl gets pushed too far, she gets dramatic and start telling everyone about everything, which is exactly what we needed.

"Come on Mandy, you don't have to be here all alone!"

"Liz! I said it's okay, I'm really interested in this!" she pointed around, and Liz went and looked at the first book she pointed at.

"_History of Encryption Part 3: 1575-1720._ You're interested in that? Finally someone sees it! It's like the coolest part ever, come on, let's check it out!" Liz said "excitedly" and pulled Mandy with her. And Mandy went.

Liz started reading out facts and trying to discuss everything with Mandy, but also telling her things that were in the newer edition of the book, that the original had gotten wrong, but Mandy was just sitting there, staring off into space, until Liz got her attention back by snapping her fingers in front of her face. "I'm guessing you're not really interested in this are you?" she asked, and Mandy nodded quietly.

"I was being more general. This library is great."

"It is," Liz said smiling, and I was glad that she leaned back a bit, so that I could see her now. Of course, I still couldn't see Mandy, but at least I could see my friend.

Operatives Morgan and Baxter realized that Operative Sutton, who was now talking to the Subject about Encryption in the 1800's, was trying to bore the Subject so much that the Subject would get mad.

But Mandy seemed to have the ability to space out while looking attentive, but Liz had the power to get everyone to listen to her, even though she was tiny. I sighed, bored and tired as Liz went on and on and Mandy kept getting distracted.

But Mandy didn't seem to care. She was just listening, her temper never flaring up. Which surprised me because, well, Liz can get really annoying when she isn't trying. But when she's _trying_…

But Liz wasn't giving up, she was going on and on, and sometimes popping in questions about Mandy's past.

"Oh yeah, and there's the Mockaoffski method to put messages in brownies, but that method was never used since it caused a mission to almost fail because the intended receiver of the message ate the brownie." Liz went on. (By the way, that turned out all right, because he was almost fired for eating the brownie on the job, and then two Gallagher Girls tailed him for a while to see if he was okay and realized that he was really a traitor) "So what school did you go to before, Mandy?" she asked directly.

"Hm? What? Oh yeah I love that method too, it's so great!" she said.

"Excuse me?" Liz asked. "You love the Mockaoffski method? That's mad!" she said. Then she hesitated, "or genius…" she thought for a second. "I'll totally have to research that you just gave an amazing idea!" she squealed and then proceded to pull Mandy to the languages section of the library.

"So, let's look at some other encryption languages!" Liz said, and Bex and I smiled into the books we were hiding behind. To be more specific, I was looking at _Covert Operations in the Chinese Underground Train Racks_ and Bex had buried her nose in _Dance: The Art of Love – or That of Murder?_

Mandy let herself be dragged, and spaced out again. Bex pulled out a sheet of evapopaper and a pencil and preteded to take notes.

What do u think is gonna happen?

Liz will find out what languages M speaks

Liz will get her mad and make her x-plode

Liz will become BFFs w/ her and make her tell eventually

Btw, where' she staying? Our room?

I really got the note in Malay, but that was the meaning. I shrugged and ate the paper. Either way, Liz would find answers for us. I smiled hopefully as she pulled Mandy to a big language Encyclopedia that had many points about the roots of languages. "Pilihan yang bagus Liz!" Bex whispered, and I had to agree that Liz had made a good choice.

"So Mandy! Let's research some languages! We've got a ton of COW homework! You can help me out a little. Let's start with… What languages do you speak? Tell me one so that we can research it! Or tell me a few so that we can see their connections!" Liz got louder and excited.

Mandy had spaced of and came back to see Liz's excited face. "What do you want me to tell you?" she asked, looking guilty because Liz looked like a very excited and happy child, and Mandy looked like she felt bad fro ruining Liz's happiness, and Liz's face fell into a pout of a second, then she re-asked her question.

"I wanted to do some research on language roots and connections for COW, but I don't know where to start! Tell me a few languages that you might speak and we can research them!"

"Oh okay, sure!" Mandy said, obviously happy the way all of Liz's face lit up again. "Research… French and Greek!" she said and Liz smiled in surprise, grabbing a different volume of the shelf and opening both books to a page. Pretending to look for a page, she turned around and smiled at us. We smiled into a mirror we had adjusted so that we could see each other, then Bex slipped it back into her pocket, we put our books back and went to our room. We could do nothing else.

* * *

**Was that bad? Good? Please tell me! I'll continue ASAP!**


	3. Chapter 3: Moving

**Hey! Sorry I was traveling so I couldn't update! I moved the time to the second book, I hope you like it!**

**Oh yeah, i don't own the series! (That was my disclaimer)**

**

* * *

**

Just half an hour later, Liz walked in. "Mandy went to the bathroom," she said and sat down on her bed. Macey, Bex, and I came really close to her and looked down. "_So_," Liz said, revealing he excitement. "She's our age, she'll be in our grade, she was homeschooled – truly or a cover, I don't know – she speaks Greek, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Latin, and obviously English. Nothing else, as far as I know. I tried to trick her into a few things while skipping languages and skipping into Swahili for a word and back out or something, but she asked me about that word, and she did that many times, even with easy stuff like Croatian. She'll be behind in that. I think she'll be good in P&E, she has a black belt in Kong-Fu and Karate. She lived in New York, and she might have actual field experience, she hinted that.

"And… wait for it! She's had guyfriends and boyfriends! Do you know what that _means_?" Liz asked, almost screaming. I shushed her. Bex and Macey squealed at the same time, and I couldn't help but smile.

I could feel the excitement rising, and then two guys walked in. I suddenly had a sense of Déjà-Vu back to when Macey had just come, and the same two guys had walked in with her bed. Now we looked at them questioningly, because they came empty-handed, and I was pretty glad, because we were four in a room of four, so we were full. "Sir?" Bex asked, probably sharing my thoughts.

"Who's moving out?" Bubblegum Guard asked us, as if we should know what he was talking about.

_Moving out?_ Bex, Liz, Macey and I looked at each other in wonder. "Excuse me? We're all staying here," Liz said, and then her gaze shifted to me, wondering. I shook my head subtly to show her that I wasn't leaving – to my knowledge.

"Will you just decide, ladies? We have two other rooms to take care of."

"Excuse me?" Macey said, echoing Liz.

"Okay, who hasn't unpacked yet?" the other guard asked, annoyed. We looked at each other.

"I haven't really had time," Macey said. And I almost pulled a grimace. She'd been unpacking at twice my speed, and she still had three suitcases to go, while I was done.

Then Bex stepped in, "Excuse me sir? But _why_ is one of us moving out? Do you think you can share that kind of information with us?" And I had another flash of Déjà Vu of Bex saying those words to my mother when we didn't want Macey to move into our room, just now we didn't want her to move out. _Talk about irony._

"She was talking to you all evening, you should know she's here by now!" Bubblegum Guard looked at me scolding and grabbed three of Macey's suitcases in one hand, and four in the other while the other guy grabbed the bed. We stood there, eyes wide open in surprise. _What in the world is going on?_ I thought and walked out of the room as soon as the two guys left, Macey following them. I thought about going to my mom's office, but then I just followed them. Bex and Liz did the same.

We got to a classroom that hadn't been used for years, but it didn't look much like a classroom now. It matched our rooms, just that it only had two beds in it, and only Macey's luggage. I looked around, but didn't see any other sign of life, except for an open tap in a nearby bathroom. The maintenance guys left again, and came in with another bed and Eva's luggage. I looked around again, then Liz, Bex, Macey and me crossed our arms and headed for my mom's office. Eva, Tina, Mick and Anna followed, and I guessed that they also wanted to stay roommates. "Come in, girls," mom said before she could possibly see that – my mom is amazing that way.

"Ms. Morgan," Bex started, and my mom raised her eyebrows. Then Mr. Solomon walked in. He opened his mouth to say something, noticed us all there, and closed it again.

"Just a second, Joe. Yes Rebecca? And all of you, I have a feeling you're coming for the same reason."

"Is there a reason the maintenance department moved my bed and clothes to an old classroom Ms.?" Macey asked, extremely polite instead of Bex.

"Yes, there is a reason Ms. McHenry," Mr. Solomon answered. "And I can assure you that it is a _good_, if not _excellent_ one." My mom's eyes narrowed for a second, then she blinked.

"Girls," she said. As a mother. And I wasn't sure who she was talking to, but she eyed Macey, so I had a feeling that she was talking to her, Bex, Liz, and me more than the other four. "I know that you're used to your roommates, but you'll have to adapt. Now, if you will excuse me please, I have some important business to take care of. Sorry girls. Go unpack." I looked at her, raising my eyebrows. Her tone softened a bit. "Listen. Last year, we accepted a girl who didn't have an education like you, but was still exceptional. She fit in," she looked at Macey, in our middle. "But Amanda," she noticed how all of our eyes widened slightly and how we looked at each other, happy to have some information about Mandy. "Amanda is here now, for reasons she will or won't tell you. And you will accept her." She looked at all of us. "Understood?" she said, and now it was as a headmistress.

Mr. Solomon opened the door and motioned us out. We marched out, knowing that we didn't have a choice. We saw Courtney and her room walk towards my mom's office. "We tried. Nothing can be done. All she said was that Mandy's here for reasons that none of the staff will reveal and that we'll make room for her. End of story," I said. I realized Liz's eyes flashing to me when I said "Mandy" but I even though I was glad to have more information, I didn't want to be the one who spread it. Even to Gallagher Girls. Liz, Bex, Macey and I went back to our room – well, Bex, Liz, and my room now – and saw the list of languages that Liz had written down on Evapopaper still on the floor. _Sloppy_, I thought, and realized that the euphoria of having this small piece of information was gone. I shook my head, and Liz grabbed it and ate it. She already knew the information on it. We helped Macey move the last of her things to her new room, and I briefly wondered where Mandy was, and then we went to shower and go to sleep.

* * *

**Um yeah, the whole moving things doesn't fit in with the book I know. Sorry! But other than that, I hope you like it! Happy reviewing!**


	4. Chapter 4: Arrival and Aftermath

**Here's Chapter 4! It's short, I know, and edit in all the good stuff from the actual book :)**

**FYI: I don't own the Gallagher Series, Ally Carter does, I really want to own them, this is my disclaimer.**

**

* * *

**

As the Blackthorne Boys walked in, Zach in the very back, his smirk on his face, his eyes flashed over to Mandy for a second, and she quietly gasped when she saw him. It wasn't a surprised or happy gasp; it was a totally shocked and teeth-baring gasp. His smirk faltered for just a second, but I don't think anybody noticed. I squinted, wondering. What was up with those two? But I was too shocked myself. Boys in our school. BOYS!

I couldn't move.

"Did you hear her gasp when they came in? She totally knows something about them!" I said to Liz and Bex, and just then, Macey walked in.

"I can't stand them. Eva and Courtney are just sitting there, whining, and Mandy Mysterious has vanished again. I mean, hello! People are moving their stuff for her, and she just conveniently disappears. If she'd just completely disappear," she whined the last line, and I remembered why I'd never want Macey mad at me.

"She knows them," I said again. "The Blackthorne Boys. And she recognized… Zach. And he recognized her. And when she saw him… Neither was happy."

"And what does that mean?" Liz asked annoyed, Bex whisper-yelled in frustration and Macey wrote onto the fogged-up mirror in the bathroom.

"I don't know!" I said. "I think this is crazy, I mean, she…"

"Hey Mandy!" I stopped cold when I heard Bex greet the newest Gallagher Girl so politely, but then I continued talking, because when people stop talking right when you come in, it gets everybody suspicious, even non-spy people.

"Anyways, I think that the whole Blackthorne thing is ridiculous," I "finished" my sentence and then turned around to face Mandy. "Hey Mandy, you like your room?"

"Yeah, it's nice," she said, and I knew that she was just trying to be nice.

"What classes do you take, I haven't seen you around!" Bex said, and Mandy smiled to herself.

"Oh the headmistress was just showing me around yesterday, she's so kind. By the way, do they do something to you here? Because, like, the headmistress looks so much like Cammie, and I swear I saw some Junior creep out of an air duct that looked similar too!" Mandy said, and I was a little dumb struck.

"Mandy, how do you know that was a junior?" I asked, perplexed.

"Oh, that Anna girl told me that they were doing some experiment in P&E with air ducts."

"Right," I said, remembering that I crawled through an air duct to steal some cookies after lunch. "I have no idea who the other girl was, but my mom's the headmistress," I said, and Mandy looked surprised.

"Oh, that kind of explains the picture of you on your mother's desk. I thought that she favored you or something," Mandy smiled.

She seemed nice and relaxed, and I knew that even spied sometimes let their guard down, and since I'm a spy (and a girl) I used that. "So Mandy, you know so many things about us. Come on, you spoke to Tina," I said when she seemed ready to decline it, "You know everything. You know my mom, where we were last summer, you know our school, you've been to the library… Now tell us something, we want to know our sister," I said, letting my voice soften at the end, a tactic that made the person you were talking to feel that you really meant what you are saying – even though I totally didn't. At least, I was trying to focus on the fact that we didn't know anything about her.

And just like that, I didn't know if she had a reason, if she knew that I knew that she knew Zach, if she trusted my mother or if she liked Liz, or if she knew Macey or was intrigued by Bex, she just started talking.

* * *

**Sorry, but I really wanted a cliffhanger. And I wanted Mandy's confessions on a separate chapter. Yeah, I'll post that real fast.**

**Happy reviewing!**


	5. Chapter 5 Mandy's talk

**Okay, this is what Mandy tells them, it's really short but I didn't want to put it in any other chapter because I feel that this is a separate chapter in their own stories, so...**

**And now this goes completely out of the real books, because it's the Blackthorne Exchange, but Cammie knows about the COC, so... you'll have to reorganize the story a little in your heads, sorry.**

**Ally Carter own the series, I just created Mandy.**

**

* * *

**

"My full name is Amanda Smith. I used to live in New York, like I already told Liz. I'm not a legacy," she eyed me, then Bex, "or a genius," she looked at Liz, "I'm not really special in any way!" she looked at Macey. "I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe you're familiar with the concept?" she looked directly at me. "I met someone that I shouldn't have met, and I got caught in something that I shouldn't even know about," I shivered, because I felt like I was hearing Josh's side of the story, even though I knew that he couldn't remember. "But before that I was trusted, I was told things, and I kept them a secret. But once you learn something, you can never unlearn it. Am I right? So I'm here. Happy?" she asked, and I wasn't for obvious reasons, but then again, she had told us her story. But nothing else.

"Where were you? Why was it the wrong place to be? Who trusted you? Who told you things? What do you want to unlearn? What did you get caught in?" I just asked all of my questions, knowing that she wouldn't answer them. "So you are… normal?" I asked, hesitating carefully.

"I… No… I mean… I used to be," she said, and I knew that she was torn between wanting to be normal again, to have no idea about all of this, and wanting to know more, knowing that it would hurt her. "I… Cammie…" she stopped and took a deep breath. "Who's your dad Cammie?" she asked, and I knew that she knew the answer. I was sure, because else she wouldn't have asked.

"I think you know," I said, trying to keep my voice firm. I remembered what my mother had said, about people who knew about dad. And about dealing with them.

"Tell me his name. Please, tell me, because… I think that you need to know… Something."

"What?" I snapped, because who was she to come in here and start asking questions?

"Matthew Morgan," Macey said, and I thought that there was probably some ex-normal girl bond between them, because Macey seemed to know what she was doing. And then, Mandy's eyes filled with regret, fear, and self-hate, and I knew that she wanted to go back to before she asked that question. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, I wasn't sure what, but then Mandy stormed out of the room, but not before Bex could pull out a gun that shot out trackers and shoot one into her shoe. I was surprised at her. But Bex would always be Bex. I shook my head.

"She's going toward the East Wing," Liz said. She was sitting in front of her laptop with Macey and Bex right beside her, while I was locked looking at the door. Mandy knew something about my father. And that's when I got up, and headed toward the East Wing too, knowing that I'd find answers.

* * *

**Yeah, very short, but the next chapter is coming up very soon, don't worry :)**

**Happy Reviewing!**


	6. Chapter 6: Wanting to know

**Here's chapter 6! It's still not very long, but I like publishing everything as soon as I write it, so I'm probably going to have a lot of short chapters. But I'm working on the next one already. I'm just having a bit of a writer's block at the moment, so write any suggestions that you might have, they really help :)**

**Thanks for the reviews I've already gotten, and I don't own the series. Just saying.**

**

* * *

**

I heard their voices a long time before I could see them. "What are you doing here and what do you want from her?" Mandy asked in a sharper tone and I expected.

"We're doing an exchange and this has nothing to do with her! Why do you keep comparing me to my mother?" Zach asked, and I he sounded hurt. But wait… his mother? I thought she was dead!

"I'm not comparing you to your mother, Zach! But you're the one who lied to me all along, and who pulled me into this! I tried to help you, and you repay me by going on a little mission and then just saying that all is fine and done? Zach, you took my world away form me, and told me things that you shouldn't have told me, after lying to me about everything! But I went ahead and forgave you! Then I tried to help you, and you hurt me, and I went through everything for you, and now you're here, saying sorry! You're the monster, not your mother. And how can you even look her in the eye, after what has happened to her?" I was getting a little mad, because "her" seemed to be a person of interest, and I wanted to know who she was!

"I didn't mean to hurt you! I just… I don't know how I can look at her, I hate looking at her," wow, "she" must be ugly… "But I can't help it! And I'd never want to hurt Cammie," there was my answer!

"But you're hurting her! You know your mother and you know that by getting close to her you'll just hurt her more!" I was officially creeped out. Mandy was defending me, Zach's mother had apparently hurt me, and I didn't really know either of them!

"Mandy, who did you talk to? You can't go and blab about everything, you know that!"

"I'll say what I need to! Give my one reason to not go to the headmistress and tell her everything. I don't think she'd want you here!"

"I am not my mother!" Zach yelled again, and he was getting hoarse, which made him sound really cute – I stopped that train of thought. Suddenly, I saw Mr. Solomon walk by and I was very glad that I had made sure to sit by one of my favorite windows, reading a book, very still. He didn't even notice me.

"Ms. Smith, I believe that Mr. Smith was looking for you. He wants to discuss the language curriculum and your skills with you," he said, and I saw the look he gave Zach out of the corner of his eye. Mandy stormed off. Then Mr. Solomon lowered his voice, and I strained to hear. "You should be careful Zach. Mandy has been awfully nice until now, but she knows what you don't want Cammie to know. And she likes Cammie. So… take care," he said, and I heard Zach sigh in frustration.

"I wish we'd never met," he said, and I didn't know whom he was talking about. Me or Mandy? Mr. Solomon tapped his back, and then left, walking right past me again.

I wanted to stay where I was, I wanted to absorb everything they had said for as long as possible, but at the same time, I wanted to run to my mom and tell her everything, having her explain it all. But I also wanted to go to my friends and ask them to dissect everything that was said. I was undecided, and before I knew what I was doing, I got off the window and walked over to Zach. "Hey Gallagher Girl," he said, as if nothing had happened.

"Hey Zach," I said, smiling. "You said something the other night… About my dad. That somebody knows what happened to him. Is it the same with your parents? What about your mother… I think I've heard of her…" I said, trying to sound light and relaxed. He tensed.

"My parents used to be in the CIA."

"What are they now? Don't lie to me," I said, and I made a very hurt expression. He seemed vulnerable right then, but I was too. This was not about me or Mandy. This was about my dad.

"Dead," he said, but for some reason I knew that he was lying.

"Both of them? Tell me," I asked again, making my expression more obvious, "Please," I added then.

I saw him mashing my words into his brain, trying to understand what exactly I meant, how much I knew. "Um…" was all that he said.

"Monster," I said quietly, as if remembering something. "Yeah… that was the word," I said, as if something dawned on me. His expression changed. He seemed to know where I was going, even though I didn't know myself. "Monster… Goode… Mother," I said, as if the words were coming back to me. And then I stopped, as if that was all I knew. Even though I knew that his mother had something to do with me. _Something_.

"My mom…" he said, quietly. "Cammie," he seemed to snap back to his old self, but he didn't call me Gallagher Girl. "Gillian Gallagher. She… Killed a man. He wasn't alone. Cavan," that's all that he said, and then he walked off. I went back to my room, but I took a detour. Then I went to my friends.

"Cavan? Like Ioseph Cavan, the guy Gilly killed?" Liz asked, typing frantically.

"Maybe," Bex said. " 'He wasn't alone,' what does that mean?" Bex asked, shaking her head.

"Solomon knows. I think. And Mandy! She knows," I repeated everything again. I felt like Mandy was the key. Even though she didn't seem to have anything to do with them.

"Cavan. It has to mean something! And Mandy's words, 'You took my world away from me,' they can't just be empty words. Mandy looks like she's been through too much to say them lightly. And the context she used them in… It wouldn't make sense if she was talking about a guy," she said, and we all looked at her. "It doesn't!" she repeated, and I just nodded, knowing that she knew best.

"My world…" Bex whispered, as if saying the words over and over again would make them make sense.

"She mentioned a mission," Liz said. "He lied to her all along. That can't be anything but… well… a spy thing. Because 'lying all along' means that there's no truth. Mandy doesn't seem to use many figures of speech, so I don't believe that she just said that. He pulled her into this, she's comparing him to his mtoehr… who is definitely alive. They've harmed you… In some way. And it has to do withy our dad, because of the question she asked before she went there. And he went on a mission, she tried to help him… He hates looking at you, and she says that he shouldn't be able to look you in the eye 'after what happened to you.'" She was trying to make it work.

"There's something else there… He told her something that he shouldn't have. If we assume that by him lying all along, and telling her things he shouldn't have, and the mission, and taking her 'world' away from her, I can only think that she's talking about…" Bex stopped.

"Clandestine services," we all said together, and we knew we were right.

* * *

**OKay, i'm working as fast as I can, but please please review! I'm sort of blocked (as mentioned before) but I'm writing every day. Happy reviewing!**


	7. Chapter 7: Sorting it out

**Thanks for the reviews! Now, this chapter is about getting everything clarified, but don't be confused. This has nothing to do with the real story, and for those of you who haven't read the fourth book, I might suggest that you read it first, because else you're going to get really confused.**

**And I don't own the series (sob).**

**

* * *

**

"So what does that mean?" Macey asked, at the same time I said, "And that means…?" and Liz whispered, "So this probably means something… Important," and Bex screamed, "Holy shit! But what does that mean?" We looked at each other, startled, and started laughing. Because sometimes, even when you're worried about something, you have to laugh, or else you go gray.

"Think about it," I said. "Zach doesn't want to be compared to his mother. But she didn't say anything, he assumed it. But he seemed to have assumed right. So we have: His mother did something. Something bad, because he doesn't want to be compared to it. She said that he lied to her all along – kind of like me and Josh? I think so. So then he 'pulled her into this' so he probably got her involved in something. She tried to help him – I wonder why? And he 'repays' her by going on a little mission and saying that 'it's all fine and done.' If we assume that they were dating, then he met somebody else on his mission. So he left her. He pulled her into this world, and told her about it – even though he shouldn't have – after lying to her. So, like… me and Josh, he lied to her, and then he told her the truth. But she was probably too caught up in it, so she came here. But how does this relate to me? Anyways, she forgave him for lying to her, I guess, and she tried to help him… Maybe he was in trouble? So she helped him, and he hurt her… When he met someone else? Or something different? And now he's 'here,' I think it's important that he's here, and he said that it had nothing to do with me. But it probably means something to her, since she says that he's the monster, not his mother. So he did something bad, but his mother too. And then she asked how he can look 'her' in the eye, and 'her' is me, and she said 'after what happened to' me, so it probably has something to do with Zach, his mom, Mandy, and me. He says he hates looking at me, and he'd never want to hurt me. Oh yeah, and he can't help looking at me. So his mom hurt me – in some way – and he doesn't want me to be hurt, but she's afraid for me. Or something. And she says that because of his mother, if he gets close to me, I'll just get hurt. And Zach doesn't want her to talk, and she threatened to talk to my mom, saying that she'd send Zach away. And Zach said that he's not his mother. But I think that mom knows very well who he is, and that she either doesn't care, or want him here because of that. And apparently, I can just assume that Zach's mother has something to do with me, and mom, and that Zach doesn't like his mother, and that Mandy is mad at Zach," I was talking for about ten minutes, all by myself, while Liz tried to write it down, Bex had an expression that made me want to laugh, because it was very concentrated, trying to make sense of all of it, and Macey's jaw had dropped.

"There's too much going on here," she said. But I knew that in this world, there's always too much. "We need to split it," she stated, and I had no idea what she meant. Neither did Bex or Liz. She looked at us, and she knew. "See, there are many different parts here. Too many to fit one mind. So, we'll split it. Liz, you will find out about the whole Ioseph Cavan thing and how it related to Zach, his mom. Bex will find out why Zach doesn't like being compared to his mother, and how they hurt Cammie. I will take Mandy and Zach's relationship, and Cammie will focus on everything."

"Wait… But that's all information we need from Zach and Mandy. They're going to find out we're trying… to find out!" Bex said.

"And… I typed it all, but it's so much information!" Said Liz; even though I knew she understood it. She just couldn't put it all together. There was a piece missing.

I didn't say anything. "Bex, that's why Cammie is focusing on everything. And Liz, that's why we're splitting it. You only have to remember the Cavan parts. Bex only has to think of Zach and his parents, I'll take Mandy. See?" I nodded. It made sense. It probably did to Bex and Liz to, because Liz was typing like crazy and Bex had an expression on her face that was so excited that I didn't dare tell her that the story might not be exciting. Macey turned to me. "Do you want to chew everything through again?" she asked. I shook my head. I wanted to go through it all, search for more clues, but I felt like we'd find questions, not answers. "Okay," she said, and I knew that she still wanted to put it under a microscope. So did Liz, and Bex was concentrated again, trying to make the pieces fit. Then I nodded. Macey raised her voice, "Let's go through everyone's parts again. Liz, you start!"

"Okay, so I'm focusing on Ioseph Cavan, and how Zach and his mom relate to it. So far, we only know that Zach said, 'Cavan,' to Cammie, as if giving her a clue," Liz rattled it all down.

"I'm focusing on why Mandy used the term 'monster,' when speaking of Zach's mother – and him – and why Zach doesn't like being compared to his mother, and how they hurt Cammie. We know that Zach feels guilty, and that Mandy is involved," Bex said with a straight face.

Macey focused, and then tried to say it all like the rest of us, "I'm focusing on Mandy and Zach's relationship. Mandy probably met Zach like Josh met Cammie – she was a civilian. He lied to her – like Cammie and Josh – and then he told her the truth. She got caught up in it and tried to help him with something, but then he – probably – met someone else on a mission. And he hurt her."

"That's all we know," I said, my voice grave. "And what connects all of that."

"Yeah," Macey said, sighing. And I wanted to go back in time, before I tried to find out who Mandy was, because… Well because there are things that you don't want to know.

"So, what are we going to do?" Liz asked. "We need to find out, each part by itself."

"Okay, since the last clue Zach gave Cammie was about Cavan, we need to focus on that. Liz, get to researching," Bex ordered, enjoying this just a bit too much. "Macey, you go and work on your normal girl bond with Mandy. Tell her lots about you and boys… Make something up if you have to. Cammie, you go and talk to Zach. Tell him lots about your mom, until he lets something about his slip. Make him vulnerable. Yeah, be mean," she said, smiling and evil smile.

* * *

**This chapter was probably a little boring - I know. But I needed a chapter to sort everything out and make an action plan. The next chapter is coming soon, and until then Happy Reviewing!**

**Oh, and I'm publishing a second story about how Cammie's parents met :)**


	8. Chapter 8: Changes

**I'll make this short: I don't own the series. Here's the story!**

**

* * *

**

Liz had searched and searched. She couldn't find absolutely anything about Ioseph Cavan. Nothing. After getting me casual for my mission-slash-date, Macey left to go talk to Mandy. And now, Bex was giving me all kinds of tips on what to do with Zach. "Make sure that he hears a lot about you. Tell him about your mom, since he seems to be sensitive on the topic of his mom, and tell him things about your dad too, especially about how you miss him, and what he used to do. I know that's… Hard, but Mandy mentioned your dad and then she went to talk to him. It meant something to her; it'll mean something to him. Talk to him about how he understands. Tell him that you're sorry that you believed what Tina Walters said about his mom, that you asked her and she said that his mom did… I don't know, something crazy. That she parachuted onto a building where a kid was fighting a monster that was really some double agent from the Caribbean, and that's how she got killed, and how you're really sorry that you said anything. Tell him that you understand what he meant about Gilly, that the guy who killed her was like the ancestor of the person that killed his mom, tell him that you're sorry, and how nobody really understands how it is when everybody knows that one or more of your parents are gone, and how terrible it is to know that he's missing, ninety-nine percent of you sure that he's dead, but one percent lingering in your mind, telling you he's alive, and stuff like that. I know this isn't easy, or nice, at all, but Cammie, if he knows something… You've got to find out. Right?" She said, noticing my look. I didn't want to do this. I'd already been mean; I'd used Mandy's and Zach's vulnerability already. I didn't want to do it again, especially not on subjects that might be… touchy. For me and for him. But I knew that Bex was right, he knew something about my dad. Mandy definitely did. So I had to do it. I wasn't happy about it, but I'm a spy. And spies do bad things for good reasons. I just hoped it would do good.

"Hey Zach," I said softly as I approached him. He was standing in a hallway, looking out of a window. He looked at me. "You know what I said before?" he just kept looking at me. "I'm sorry," I said. "I talked to Tina about it. She explained it to me… I'm sorry. It's terrible. Everybody knows about your parents, and yet you don't know what happened to them." He looked at me again, and this looks was different. "I know what you meant now. You know that somebody knows, while you don't. They've been gone for years, and everybody says that they're dead, but you still… Don't want them to be. You just feel like they're still there, and like you need to find them. Especially in our world. It's all shades of gray, and somewhere, it could be anywhere, there are answers. And you can't find them. I'm sorry about the way I asked before. I shouldn't have tried to make you tell me… it wasn't right. It's hard for me too, you know. But I feel like… Like you understand. You understand what it's like, nobody else does. You remember them, right?" I asked. I was doing what Bex had said, but I knew that it was all true. Except for the parts where I said I talked to Tina. I put my true emotions, when what I was doing was… not true at all. I wasn't looking for support in Zach. I was looking for answers. But either way, I was looking. "Zach, do you remember them?" I asked again, my voice soft. He just made the slightest of all nods, but I knew that it was there. Then I smiled a sad smile. "My dad used to dance in the kitchen when he cooked – he was a way better cook than my mom. He laughed and every time he came home… It was like the sun came out on the first day of spring." I looked to see his reaction, but his face had turned to stone. "Of course, being who they are, my parents… I should know that he wouldn't come back one day. But I keep hoping. Do you?" I asked him, and I knew that had hit a soft spot with the whole hoping thing.

"Somebody knows," he whispered again. But I knew that he wasn't talking about himself. He was talking to me. He hugged me, and I knew that things were so different with us now. He thought he knew me. I was trying to get to know him. "Cammie… Gallagher Girl…" was all he said. He stroked the back of my hand, trying to comfort me in some way. And I felt better, I did. In many ways. Firstly, Zach cared to comfort me. That meant many things: I had managed to crack part of his shell; he wanted me to feel better. He understood what it was like for me, and he wanted to help. It was the smallest movement as we stood together in front of that widow, watching the rain fall from the low, grey clouds. I felt like that moment took forever and a day until it was over. But like all nice moments, it had to end. "CODE BLACK CODE BLACK CODE BLACK CODE BLACK" the sirens wailed, I froze for a second. I needed to get to the common room. I saw the shutters close in front of the window, blocking the sad but beautiful scene out. Zach's hand disappeared, and a group of screaming seventh graders ran by. Only one of them stopped for a second to look at us in wonder. There hasn't been a Code Black since the end of the Cold War, I thought, scared sick. Then I turned to Zach to ask him where he was supposed to go, but he was gone. I blinked, and then I left for the common room. I honestly didn't need to get in trouble now.

* * *

**I hope you liked it! Should I put some more Zammie in the next chapter? Any requests about how the story should go? I'm open to constructive criticism (**ha! wrote that without the help of my spellcheck... finally!**) Anyhoo, Happy reviewing!**


	9. Chapter 9: This isn't right

**Okay, originally I had split this into chapters 9 and 10, but I changed my mind... So for those of you who read the original chapter 9, I've added a line, so that you don't HAVE to re-read it.**

**I'm really sorry I took so long to update, but I'm really busy at school and honestly I was kind of stuck, but here it is!**

**

* * *

**

I remembered the Code Red when Macey came to us. It was to protect the school from strangers, the school's – the sisterhood's – cover. But for a Code Black, the school goes into lockdown. Nothing gets in or out. I saw burn bags smoking; I passed by the library and saw metal closing our books. It wasn't an organized chaos, like with Code Reds. It was a scary, true chaos. Then Mr. Solomon jumped out from a corner, startling me. "Ms. Morgan, I was looking for you! You need to go to your mother's office! Now!" he said, pushing me a little.

"But I'm supposed to go to my common room," I said, but then I just headed to mom's office, running.

I heard the screaming before I got there.

Then I saw Liz screaming, being held by a big guy (who was trying to shut her up, but well... You can't really shut Liz up). I ran faster, punched the back of his head, pulled up Liz, backed off, kicked him in the stomach, grabbed a Napotine Patch that Liz handed me (I noticed that she held her wrist in a really odd angle) and slapped it on his forehead. Then I looked up and down the hall, knowing that I'd have too see anybody coming, the sirens were too loud to hear anything, so I pushed Liz into my mom's office, where I froze. The Code Black hadn't been able to keep out anything, because there was a mayhem going on in there. There was Bex, who slapped Napotine Patches on two guys and kicked a third one in the stomach _at the same time_, there was my mom, who pushed aside a guy's gun and kicked him where it counted, and I turned my head. The shot he fired had hit a different guy, and Liz triumphantly put a Napotine Patch on his head. Macey threw a dagger, which hit the guy that Aunt Abby – wait Aunt Abby was here? I wondered why – was fighting, and the guy Macey meant to hit punched her eye, but she tripped him in a way that she had probably learned two hours ago in P&E, and even though all of that was happening at once, I was frozen because I had never seen such a thing. It took me a fraction of a second to realize that questions like _Why were they here?_, _What did they want?_, _Who were they?_, _How did they get in?_, all questions I wanted to ask at that moment didn't matter, and I roundhouse kicked the guy Bex was fighting. She shot me an irritated look, which she shouldn't have done, because she didn't see the guy who jumped her from behind. I thanked god that Aunt Abby did, and managed to hit him in the back of the head with a book. I heard a sickening snap – to this day I don't know how I heard that in the noise in all of that noise – and he passed out. Suddenly, I heard a small cry, and I felt like I was subdued in a tank of liquid nitrogen, because the cry came from my mom. But she wasn't hit or anything – actually, she had just knocked out three new guys at once – but I realized a second too late that she was looking behind me. I turned around, someone grabbed me, I flipped them over my head to he ground, kicked their face with my foot, tried to look at who it was – and didn't see a tall, graceful woman that grabbed me, twisted me by my hair, grabbed my elbow in a move that I knew we'd learn next semester, and then I felt something cool touch my temple, and I knew that I was being held hostage. Everyone seemed to freeze as the last guy fell – Macey had done something cool with her scarf – but I wasn't sure if I should risk a forbidden move that I had read about, never even tried, or wait to see how things unfold? I decided to wait. The first rule of Covert Operations is to not hesitate, and I had taken half a second to think. Whoever it was would be ready. I composed my expression, but I looked around the room.

My mom had a half-composed, half-terrified face as she stared at me and whoever held me. Bex was outraged, but seemed to have enjoyed the fight. Liz's face almost made me laugh, it was ten shades of surprised, one shade of annoyed, three shades of scared, and _fifty_ shades of utter disbelief. But Macey was the one I looked at last. She hadn't been trained like us, she hadn't been at this school for years, but she seemed rational. She was scared, but not scared silly. She didn't have Bex's temper, Liz's naïveté, or my mom's… I wasn't sure what made my mom so terrified and angry. Pure anger, anger like I had never seen before was written across her face, anger that I wanted to back away from and never see again, and in that moment I knew that all my mom wanted to do was jump and get me, but she had to stay still, because the way the woman was standing clearly said _one move and she's dead._

I was annoyed right then, because I felt like someone was missing, someone who should be there, and that something should be happening about now (not to mention that I had an itchy mosquito bite on my back). I was led outside, and I saw men swarming around me, men like we had been fighting, and we got to the Hall of History, which didn't really look like anything right then. I raised my head up high, and looked expectantly around me, while questions flooded my mind. I knew that as long as you could fight, as long as you stayed cold and focused, you body and training took over, but as soon as you're left to think, you lose focus. And I was trying not to do that. With all my might. I kept noticing everything, listening to my captor's footsteps, counting the people around us (5), thought about how many times heavier than the average Gallagher Girl they would be (4), how many minutes it would take me to take one of them out alone (1), how many were right-handed (3), how many seemed to be injured (4), and then I wondered where everyone was. Suddenly, a small audience appeared. All the seventh graders came out of their dorm, and I wanted them to go back in. Badly. This wasn't where they were supposed to be. This wasn't where _I_ was supposed to be. But then Kim's sister turned around and whispered something to the rest. They turned around, looked at us, and started screaming as if they were scared to death, and started running. Running through, probably startling my kidnappers, who hadn't seen them plan it. I had to smile. They were Gallagher Girls, and as they ran, they took four of the five men, and made the woman holding me let down her guard for a second, letting me bring my handcuffs to her neck, elbow her gun away, head-butt to nose her, and trip her. She seemed to know what I was going to do, but probably didn't expect me to do it all together. It took a lot of focus on my part, but the triumph was great as she moved back her head, watched little Alex Dillard pick up her gun and look very surprised, and fall backwards into a horde of Gallagher Girls. I spun around, knowing that I had a Napotine Patch with me, but for just a second I saw a pair of eyes. A pair of eyes that absolutely shouldn't be here. A pair of eyes that brought up a thousand memories. But I didn't wait for explanations. I slapped a Napotine Patch on her forehead. Then two _really_ bulky guys barged right through the hall, grabbed her and took her, running. There were many of them. Incredibly many. How else would they have broken into our school? How could they still be alive after being attacked by all of the Gallagher Academy? Then I realized that maybe nobody knew. The teachers were checking the windows to see what had tried to break in, and the guys had been good. They hadn't made unnecessary noise, and only now, that the seventh graders had left screaming, did more people come, looking at the bodies on the ground, at the few girls that were being held, the circle that was forming.

There was the woman, who was passed out in the guys' arms, but she was stirring, and they seemed to have orders not to leave. There were the Gallagher Girls who were standing around, because five of the seven captured girls were being held like I was being held before – and we couldn't move. More Gallagher Girls arrived, and I was thinking that it might be okay now. As soon as we freed the girls, of course.

But then the woman stood up. And everybody stopped. Many guys were on the ground, but there were still many standing, and some were just arriving. The woman stood up, looked at the captured girls, looked at the assembling girls, and then looked at me. I scanned the crowd to see what she might've been looking for and I noticed – there wasn't a single teacher. Still, I could hear Ms. Moscowitz's wheezing breath, and I knew that everybody was coming, when the woman pointed at me. "She comes, and they leave," she said, pointing at the captured girls. One of them was Kim's sister. When we heard the request, I could swear that nobody was breathing.

I was sure that people would start murmuring – they're girls after all, and something odd just happened. When odd things happen, girls – especially Gallagher Girls – start talking about it. But it was something serious. Seven of our sisters were being threatened, and they wanted me. I wanted to step up, but several pairs of hands held me back. Macey, Bex, Liz, Tina, Eva, Kim, Anna and others weren't letting me go. I knew that there was no guarantee that the intruders would let them go, but it was one for seven. I had to try. But they wouldn't let me.

Bex was looking like she'd kill me if I went, Liz was confused, but sure that she wouldn't let me go, Macey was looking at me with a stone expression on her face, Tina, Eva, and Anna were just denying me the right to go – their expressions saying that it wasn't _my choice_. Telling me that this was a sisterhood thing. Kim looked at me completely sure, even though she did look concerned about her little sister. I understood. They were really close.

Then I heard five guns being released, and all eyes turned back on the captives. I expected them to squirm, but I should've known. They were Gallagher Girls, so they held they little heads up high, their eyes telling us not to give in.

But even though I was a _little_ glad that they were holding me back, I also knew that I had to go! I pulled free, but they looked at me, and even though nothing was holding me, I was chained. Then the woman nodded her head, and the guys pushed the seven girls away with force. Three fell to the ground, Kim's sister almost did, and the other three managed to gain their balance. Hands immediately reached out to pull them back.

* * *

I wasn't sure why they let them go, but I knew that it was just a ploy. I wondered if they thought that I would run and help them up or something, but obviously I didn't. I was glad they were safe, back with us. I stared at the woman, recognizing the eyes. But I didn't know why it was important. I just stood there. I just stood there while more and more people were coming. Suddenly, I felt somebody touching my hand, just a bit, getting my attention. Zach. I knew that he was related to her. I wasn't sure if I cared. He seemed to know. For a brief second, I thought of Mandy. "Trust me, please," he begged.

I wanted to, but then she ran in, screaming. "DON'T! Don't trust him." I didn't know what to do. "Please," she whispered, and I looked at her. "His mother," she mouthed, and I looked at Zach's… mother? She seemed to be happy that Zach was there, but annoyed at Mandy. I nodded, because I should have known.

"Cammie, please," he said again, holding my left hand. Mandy was clutching my right.

I didn't know. I had met Zach, Mr. Solomon trusted Zach, he was here with other people, he was a good spy. Mandy was… new. She knew things that she wouldn't tell me. I hadn't trusted her, from the very beginning. But that was the thing. I trusted Zach, he lied to me. I didn't trust her, at least at first, but she hadn't lied to me. She'd been protective about me. He'd basically confirmed that. I shouldn't trust his mother. He knew that. But he said to trust him. She said not to. I had to pick. "What do you want from me?" I asked Zach.

"Trust me."

"Okay. So now what?" I asked, and Mandy let go of me, just a bit, but then she heard the tenor of my words and held onto me again. I was glad. I didn't trust Zach, not yet. But I needed to see if I should trust him.

He seemed to be pondering over something. And his mother was smiling. I shouldn't trust him. I knew that. Or maybe I should, because he'd surprise her. "Just… Trust me," he said, and Mandy tightened her grip on me. I didn't respond. I hoped that she knew why.

Nothing happened. For just a moment, nothing, absolutely nothing happened. And that moment seemed to stretch on and on. But I knew that they had a scheme, and I stayed alert.

Because of course, those moments always end fast.

It all happened in a flash. My mom ran in, saw Mrs. Goode, took a step back, and then spun around to look at me, Zach and Mandy each clutching one of my hands, my body turned towards the former, Macey, Bex, and Liz sort of around us, frozen. Mr. Solomon also came, saw them, and for a moment I though he was going to pass out (I know, Joe SOLOMON!). My mom saw his expression, and her face looked like it was carved out of stone. Professor Buckingham walked forward, slowly, but I knew that she was taking everything in.

But then everything changed again. There was an explosion, and about half of the Gallagher Girls turned around – sophomores to use the Coloski method of weighing threats, and since the explosion came definitely from Mr. Fib's lab, we knew that it was probably safe. But the intruders didn't think so. They used the opportunity of the distracted Gallagher Girls to grab me, and went into a tug-of-war using my arms. It only took me a quarter of a second to punch one of the people pulling me and to step closer to Bex, who now let go of my arm. But then Mrs. Goode put her hand on Bex's chest, stopping her. "We only come to deliver a present, dear," she smiled. "I'm sure that if you knew our little surprise, you wouldn't be so aggressive," she smirked looking directly at Mandy.

And Mandy looked scared.

**

* * *

**

**Okay, this time i did have a cliffhanger... But I hope you liked the chapter, and the extension :)**

**Obviously, the sneak-peek was there, and I was sure all of you knew who that was...**

**Now (this is going to be a bit of a long author's note, but please don't skip it...) this is my longest chapter. Seriously. It was hard to write, and some of you might be thinking "Oh my god... This is just like all other stories. They're going to get her, then free her. Right?" (not criticizing any other stories, I've only read like two of those and they're really good!) But yeah I guess I'd be thinking that too, but I hope it won't turn out that way. This is still my first FanFic, so I hope that you don't mind :)**

**I reply to every single review, so write as much as you can, and I love constructive criticism. Happy Reviewing!**


	10. Chapter 10: What in the ?

**I am so sorry I haven't updated sooner. I've been way to busy. But now I'm flooded with ideas, and you'll see them soon. Again, I'm really sorry that I haven't updated since like two weeks. Sorry, sorry, sorry!**

**Anyways, here goes the chapter :)**

* * *

I didn't know where they brought him from. But then again, I didn't have any idea how they got into the school. It was a boy. Maybe a year older than me. I looked at him, just like all the girls around me did. He had short, light brown hair and auburn eyes. He seemed pretty strong. I wanted to try and figure out where he was from. I wanted to know who he was.

But I didn't have time to think of that, because Mandy crashed into me as soon as she saw him, covered in blood. I caught her, but she stumbled forward again, only to be laughed at by Mrs. Goode. "See, I knew our present might surprise you," she laughed, and the boy caught Mandy as she stumbled towards him. He whispered something to her, and her breath came in gasps. Then the Circle's people grabbed both of them, and I knew that we'd get them, but Mandy raised her hand, as if to stop us, and then passed out.

I didn't have time to think. I wanted to know so many things, but I didn't have a chance t ask any questions – besides, who would answer them? I ran, and punched one guy, only to see Bex roundhouse-kicking somebody else. "STOP!" I heard a scream. I recognized the voice. Mom.

I froze, but I took in a defensive stand, knowing that the surprise might not last long enough. But my mom's lady-like voice had turned into a boom box sound, and everyone – even Zach's mom – had stopped. We turned to her. It was surprising how all those goons were just like pawns. As if they didn't really have their own will. "You will now let go of the young girl you're holding," she said. Mandy fell to the floor. Nobody moved. "You will now let go of the boy." The guy stumbled, then stood. Still, nobody moved. "You will drop those papers." Some guy dropped some papers – I recognized the plan of our grounds. All was still. "You will drop that gun," mom said, and even though this time her voice was stronger than any other time, nobody did anything – because she was looking straight at me, and I wasn't holding a gun. Then I heard and ironic laugh, and understood everything.

Once again, a gun was being held to my head. I was a little annoyed – didn't they have anything better to do? I guessed not.

Nobody had moved, but things were changing. My mom had the power for those two minutes and 49 seconds, but no longer. And then, Bes jumped. That's the thing though – when you're holding a gun to somebody's head, you don't expect anyone to jump at you, because they'd be stupid. And Bex was being incredible stupid – which might've saved my life if there wasn't a certain boy, who stopped her. They fought, and it was close, until Zach's mom let out a scream, which distracted both of them, letting Bex win, but then she looked up and jumped up like a cat. She knew she was being stupid. Liz gave her a small punch when she returned back beside her. And I sensed that that punch, though weak and well, from Liz, hurt Bex more then a machine gun would, because she realized that she could've made me die. I tried to look at her in a nice way, because she'd been trying to help.

I heard a whistle, and I ducked away form the gun as Macey jumped – she was mimicking Bex, but she did it at a better timing, knocking over Mrs. Goode while I dragged passed-out Mandy towards me. But I had only grabbed her wrist when someone pulled her away. It was the boy from before. He looked at me with half-crazed eyes, and I knew he hated me. I had no idea why. He bared his teeth at me, but I moved fast and tugged Mandy over. She was my friend, helpless, and he was crazy. And he'd obviously been caught by those people at least once – if he wasn't working for them.

Fighting had broken out, everywhere, and I tugged her wrist again. Somebody punched him, and I resisted the urge to help him – I didn't know him.

I tried to pass Mandy back, away from the fight, but Zach grabbed her from me, and I pulled back, snarling at him. He _couldn't_ take her from me. I'd protect her from him, just like she'd been trying to protect me. All along, I knew that now. "Gallagher Girl, relax. Please trust me, come with me," he whispered. Bex, Liz, and Macey were busy, and so was everybody. The two of us were in the eye of the storm. Everything seemed muted, and I trusted him. I knew it was stupid, but this time I really trusted him – there was nobody else right then. And as he pulled me through the fighting, away from his mother, sliding through the bodies, always holding on to my hand. I held Mandy tighter, trying not to lose her – I was in a daze. I don't know for how long we were going.

Then he turned around, and pushed Mandy out of my hands. I bent down, and saw him point a gun at the boy – he had been following us. I tried to tell him to stop, but I saw my mom falling down the stairs, Macey bleeding, and I couldn't find Mandy – it was almost too much.

But I knew I had to pull myself together. It was all I could do from passing out. I tugged Zach's arm, and the boy got away. Maybe he wouldn't have me so much now. "Zach, I lost her," I told him, and he picked her up. I hadn't seen her, and I regretted saying that now – would he give her back? "You said I should trust you," I reminded him, and he handed her to me. Then he pulled me further.

"Hey, why don't you stop running off with Cammie for a minute?" I heard a voice. Mr. Solomon. "Cammie, I want you to come over here now," he said, and I was almost surprised at his calmness. Almost. I stopped, but suddenly, Zach tugged me harder, and ran faster. I didn't have time to utter a single word. Then everything went black.

* * *

**I want honest opinions. Please? Is this getting bad? I have something interesting planned for the next chapter, which will come soon. Promise. Until then, Happy Reviewing!**


	11. Chapter 11: Mandy's Hometown

**Oh my god, what a long chapter and what a fast update I am SO proud of me :) (That sounded really full of myself, but I've been suffering from homework overload and writers block for awhile, so this is a true light in darkness)**

**This the freakin' LONGEST chapter (except for the double-chapter) and it might not seem very interesting, but I'd _look out! _(if you want to.)**

**Anyways. I don't own the series, but I do own Mandy, and the plot, and things introduced in this chapter.**

**Merry Christmas, this is my gift to you!**

* * *

I woke up on a comfy bed. Light was streaming in through a window – wait what? Where was I?

"Cammie?" I heard someone open the door.

"Mandy?" I questioned my own words, because it couldn't be true. "Um… where am I? What time… heck, what date is it?"

"Relax, it's… We're in a small farm town in Tennessee. It's November, the fourth."

"Mandy… can I get some answers? Why are we here? Why are you here, why am I here, why are we together, how come I've been out for one and a half weeks, what happened…" I trailed off because I knew that she was already unconscious before I passed out, too.

"I don't know. I just woke up two days ago. Get dressed and come outside, will you?" I wondered if it was a trap, but I pulled on some unfamiliar clothes and walked out of the small but nice room I'd woken up in. It was a bigger room, with a wooden table, a couch, and a kitchen. I saw three doors leading away from it, and an open front door. Out of that I could see a butcher's shop across the street and a bright blue sky. The house was made out of wood, and it was clean. There were some fried eggs on the table. "Those are for you," she said. "Eat, they're fine. I made them. They're from Grace's Grocery, they're perfectly fine," she assured me again, and I ate them, knowing that I was starving. They tasted really great. As soon as I was done, Mandy pulled me outside. She pointed to the butcher. "That's the butcher, obviously. Butcher Smith lives right above his shop. On the left over there, you can get vegetables. Veggie Villain Victor lives…" she pulled me towards the side of the block, and I got to see how small the town was "right over there. His neighbor, Robert Smith, owns the bookshop. He's read more books than he has in his store! Then there's the police center, but they don't really do much, unless you lose your hat or something. Hilarious Henry is our policeman, he lives over there. Then there's Crooked Chris, he own the computer store. The town is small, but pretty hi-tech. Ooh, beside Chris is Old Olaf's house, but only Old Olga lives there now, he passed away two years ago. Everybody in the closest five towns came to the funeral – nothing was moving here during the ceremony! Old Olga now takes care of Little Lily, she was orphaned at seven! But the mayor didn't want her to go to the orphanage three towns over, so they just kept her here. See, there's 'Bob's Bikes', but Bob is really broke, because everybody here already has a bike! So he really takes care of Old Olga and Little Lily. Yeah, that's Broke Bob for you! But rumors say that he and Grace are engaged, and Grace's pretty rich, so… Left of Little Lily's house is the Cavern Museum – I think it's named after some guy, nobody really knows. But it's really interesting! And there's the Circeloo Circus. It travels around the state, but it's usually here. They're really awesome! The bookstore, and the computer shop. Oh, there's Raul's Restaurant! Right of Lily's is Tate's Tavern. Tate and Raul are brothers. It used to be Pretty Peter's Pub, but he's too old for it now. They wanted to change it, but Raul wanted it fancy, and Tate didn't. They've never let down their feud! Tate has a son now, Puny Peter Parslow. He's not really puny; they just call him that to not get him confused with his grandfather. He owns the 'Pics & Print' shop over there. But most people live out on their farms, not in the town. It's a pretty rich town – well except for Bob of course. But he's the exception. How do you like it?"

"I… Mandy? Where are we? What is the town called? How do we leave? How do we contact my mother? How do you know this town so well?" the questions didn't stop.

"It's my hometown," she said quietly. I was taken by surprise. She sounded so sad when she said that. "It was all normal when I left the last time. Now I don't know why I'm here. I woke up, and it was all just like before – except for my parents of course. They're gone. There was money in the jar, and everybody knows me here, so I just went ahead and stocked the fridge for when you woke up. Nobody seems to knows a thing, they asked me how my vacation was. It all seems normal to them, as if my parents just had an extended vacation on something, and will be back soon."

"Oh Mandy, I'm so sorry, but… It was night, and I was trying to get you away from the fight after you passed out. Zach was dragging me away from it, and then Mr. Solomon stopped us, but then we started running again. That's all I know. Mandy, I know there are things you haven't told me. But you need to speak with me. Tell me what you know. About Zach, his mother, my father, everything. And then we'll go the police department or something and contact my mother."

"I'm sorry, we can't. Our phone isn't working, and the police department doesn't work with the CIA, FBI, and NSA. They don't really do anything but find lost dogs and purses. They don't have official records, nothing. This town is far away from everything, and it's self-sufficient, except for stores and things like that. There are hardly any outsiders, though sometimes they come, but you don't see them. They just come once, and then, days later, they leave. Or they don't leave at all, and nobody does gets but glance at them. Nothing's ever been stolen, no murder of course. Nobody's moved in in quite a while, though a guy once moved out. Broke Bob's dad. Made people pretty depressed, we didn't see any of Bob for days! But this town's busy as always now. Lots o' the farmers come in for the days, but you don't see much o' them. You don't see much o' anybody around here really. I don't know the farmers; they come to town only once in a while. There's one that comes about twice, maybe three times a year.

"You know we own a piece o' land, that's where my parents spent their time, supervising the workers. But the state university has a bit o' a break, so all the boys n' girls are here, and Grace is on the farm now, takin' care o' things there." I heard Mandy's southern accent, which I had never noticed before, but now it was obvious that she'd been living here her whole life.

The way she talked about the town was familiar to me; she knew it, but it was still a mystery to her. It was the same way dad used to talk about his job; he knew absolutely everything about it, and yet he still had everything to figure out.

"How nice," I said, trying to sort out the facts. "Mandy, how do we contact my mother?" I asked again, my voice sharper. She was getting off topic!

"I… Cammie I don't know! I have no idea what happened! Maybe contacting your mom would be the worst thing to do! We don't have anything protected, and you know very well that those people – whoever they were – will be watching any phone lines and emails that they can. So please, just wait. Relax, and let things be."

"Relax? Let things be? I know this is new to you, but such thing as letting it be doesn't exist Mandy! We need to act. Now. They'll find us, you know that." I was almost yelling, but then I went back to a whisper in the last sentence. Mandy looked sad. I made my voice soft. "You want to stay here, pretend like nothing happened. Pretend to swallow what everybody is telling you about your parents. Pretend that I'm just a girl you met. Stop asking questions, because you don't want to know that answer. But even if you don't care, even if the two of us become farm girls – which admittedly, we are – and just live on, not being threats, they'll still be a threat to us. Just because we won't be carrying guns doesn't mean they won't point them at us." She nodded.

"Okay, you're right. I know. But we need to fill your energy, and we need to introduce you to everybody. We'll introduce you as Julie Cosima Wells. Cosima is Italian, and means order, which is totally ironic. You're a half-Italian family friend. Okay? And you love riding. Which is why they'll hardly see us. Here, have some colored contacts," she handed me a box.

"I'm impressed," I smiled, and quickly put on the contacts. My eyes turned a brilliant and dramatic light sea blue. It was almost scary. "Mandy… These make me look kind of scary!"

"Only to you Cam. Because you're not used to your eyes getting all the attention, but these will draw all the attention away from the rest of your face. True, people will be looking, but that's okay. Nobody will be looking for a girl whose most dominant feature is their eyes. Trust me." I sighed, but I knew she was right. I couldn't look at my face, and I was looking for it. Nobody would recognize me. "Now all you have to do is bat your eyelashes a lot, and the illusion will be perfect." I tried it. I hated it. But I did it. Mandy smiled, and then went and put some makeup on me, successfully changing the shape of my eyes, making them look bigger and bolder, and making my lips completely unnoticeable and a tad distorted. I didn't look like me. Perfect.

The first person we saw was a woman of about 25. She had curly, reddish-brown hair and light brown eyes that darkened around the edge to a deep blue. I was pretty sure they were contacts. She wasn't tall, but she wasn't short either. She had a mixture of a farmer's and a model's body build. "Hey Grace," Mandy smiled.

"What's up Mandy? Who's this?" Grace had a high voice, but not exceptionally high.

"This is Julie. Julie Cosima Wells, she's a family friend of mine."

"Oh hey Julie. I'm Grace, I own the grocery store and I'm currently watching over the Smith's farm. But I took a break, which I shouldn't be saying in front of young Mandy here. Don't worry though Mandy, it'll be fine. So what country are you from Cosima? France?"

I laughed. "Italy, actually. Venice. But I was born in Rome. I'm guessing you've been here forever?"

"Yes I have, JC. But how come you know little Amanda? She meet you on vacation?"

JC? "No, our parents have known each other for quite a while. Our dads," I hoped that I wasn't saying anything too weird. But then again, Grace seemed to be a bit tuned out, hearing every second word.

"Oh were did your dads meet Amandy? Back in time when your dad exchanged to France? Oh but you're from Italy, JC."

Mandy pulled us out of the situation. "Actually, Julie's dad happened to be in France for a year too. That's how they met and things just clicked."

"Oh cool. So what's up with Julie? Why not Julia or Juliet?"

"My parents thought they were too generic."

"Hm. Good to know. You're interesting JC. See you around!"

"She seems nice," I said quietly to Mandy.

"Yeah, but she's curios. Take care with her. Bob!" she exclaimed at a skinny, tall guy with dark hair. He was cute, for a broke guy.

"Hey youngster! Who's the tag?" he asked, looking at me. It was uncomfortable the way people stared into my eyes. But that only meant the ply was working.

"This is Julie Wells. Actually, Julie Cosima Wells, but we don't want Grace's nickname to stick. She's a family friend."

"Why, what did Gracie call her? JC?" he laughed.

"Pretty much," I said. "Nice to meet you."

"So what's up with _Gracie_ an' you?"

"Ha! Major gossip much? We just like hangin' out t'gether. She ain't so bad, ya'll know."

I smiled. "Yeah, we've met her."

"Anyways Bob, do you know where little Lily is? Haven't seen her around much."

"Oh you mean the little Lil that was 'round here? See, Old Olga took her out."

"Took her out? Out where?"

"Don't know much, just know that she probably ain't comin' back no more. Why, she took all o' her clothes. Left behind the rest though. Except for that ol' necklace o' her mom's. Sorry guys, I need to go now," he said and went into his shop. I looked after him in wonder.

"Oh I wonder why they left? This is so sad! Anyways, this is the time when hardly anybody's around. They're all working at the moment. It's a surprise we saw the two of them. Let's go back inside."

I knew that it seemed normal. Just another small town. But I couldn't forget the fact that we were hunted, that we were brought here by someone unknown, and that people were worried about us, either way. Why were we here? I didn't feel safe here, even though Mandy seemed to; but she grew up here. This was here home. But I was wrong here. Something was off. I could feel it in the air that was too warm for November. I just knew that things wouldn't stay calm.

I wanted to go home.

* * *

**Did you look out carefully? Process all information, like a good little spy? Then you should be really excited and edgy! But if not, then you'll have to wait. So, if you know what this ^^^ is, then I'm proud of you, since it's not easy :)**

**Anyways, tell me how you liked it :) Merry Christmas and Happy Reviewing!**

PS: I want to clear up something. In the last chapter, it said "Mandy crashed into me as soon as she saw him, covered in blood." Sorry about the confusion, the guy is covered in blood, _not_ Mandy.

Also, I know it says that Mandy lived in New York in Chapter 3: Moving, but she was only there for a very brief period of time, maximum a year before this story.

**Happy Reviewing!**


	12. Chapter 12: HappyFace 13

**I am so sorry this took so long! I couldn't update because I was travelling and a big exam overload. But here's the chapter!**

* * *

"Come on," Mandy dragged me. She'd showed me the whole town, introduced me to everybody, and I had done everything I could to find out why were there. But we both just kept pretending. Mandy was smiling, and I felt like I was seeing a younger version of her. Guilt twinged in me. This was her home, where everybody had met her as a little kid, everybody as her family, and here I was dragging my shadows to the place that she called home. She dragged me into the computer store. The sales guy turned around suddenly, and looked at the two of us. A sly smile showed up on his lips, but it was gone in half a second.

"Mandy! What a surprise! And who's your friend?" he asked, looking as if he already knew. Mandy noticed

"I bet word has spread to you! Spreads like fire in this town, doesn't it? This is Julie. She's from Venice!" she smiled widely, and then slid over to the computers, looking at them carefully. I noticed a security camera in the top east corner of the room, and almost had to smile. As far as security went, this town was surely behind. A strange man walked into the store, and Mandy glanced at him, but it didn't seem bizarre to her. Maybe there were more visitors than she said. Or maybe it was one of the farmers.

Mandy seemed distracted, so I also slid over to a computer. There didn't seem to be much security, so I wanted to see what I could do. _Hello Cammie_, and IM popped up on the screen. The username was _HappyFace13_. I thought that it was probably Mandy. I glanced at her reflection in a black screen, but she had walked over to the printers. Another IM came in. _It's not Mandy dear _. I was creeped out. This wasn't my computer! How could anybody know I was here? The security camera! _Don't leave!_ HappyFace13 went on. _You need to know the truth!_ I quit the iChat application. _Don't make me mad, Cameron!_ Second later, a Skye chat came in. I quit that too. _Cammie! Stop! You need to know the truth about why you're there… The truth about Mandy._ An AOL message popped up. How many chats were there on this computer? Then I thought about the message. The truth?

**MacBook5:**What do you want to tell me?

**HappyFace13: **The truth.

**MacBook5: **What truth! Tell me already.

**HappyFace13:** Can't.

**MacBook5:** Why? If you can do this, you can do that.

**HappyFace13: **Turn around.

I did as instructed. The sales guy was talking to the customer. Mandy was playing a game on an iPod, and an older man was cleaning the store windows from the outside.

**HappyFace13: **You can't trust him.

**MacBook5: **Who?

**HappyFace13: **Guy behind u. Dun-dun-duhhhnnn!

**MacBook5:** There are many guys behind me! Who r u?

**HappyFace13: **You don't need to know that.

Angry, I quit the AOL application too. That person was just messing with me. I knew that, because the sales guy was fingering the same computer for a while now. And I had just confirmed that my name was really Cammie to him. I started thinking of excuses… My grandmother's maiden name was Cameron… It came from Cosima… My mom's name was Cameron and I looked a lot like her, so people called me Cammie, like little Cameron.

Suddenly, I got a _Windows Live_ IM. _Cammie stop! I need to tell you something, but not here. This isn't safe. They're tracking me as we're speaking!_ It said. I closed that too, and then I went over to the iPhones. Seconds later, I got to the first one in the row, a text came in. _Think of the buildings… The names… The guys._ I deleted it, then I moved to the printers. Printers couldn't receive texts. My breath was coming faster, and my heart was beating. I was being stalked in this store… I had to leave. But Mandy was chatting, and pulling her out would be suspicious. I needed to find out who HappyFace13 was. But I couldn't do that with her writing me messages, and I couldn't do that in this store. Two more guys had walked in, one of them was Hilarious Henry, the cop. He smiled towards me, and I flashed back a smile, not sure what to think. Suddenly, a piece of paper started printing. It was a quiet printer, so nobody noticed. I was surprised, and took a step back.

**Doesn't the town just feel so **_**safe**_**? Hah!**

**HappyFace13 **

I put the paper into my pocket, and then pulled Mandy out, with the excuse of wanting to find something to eat. She came willingly, smiling.

I didn't want to do this. I didn't want to tell her that something was off. But it had to be done. I took a deep breath. "Mandy, we need to get out of here." She shook her head, ever so slightly, but I kept going. "I don't know who it was, but somebody knew with computer I was at, and they knew my name. Then I went to the phones, and got a text, then I went to the printers, and this printed," I showed her the note. "Mandy… Please. You need to trust me on this. We're in danger," I shook her. "Mandy."

Her head snapped up, and she looked at me. "What? Miss know-it-all wants to be in charge? You want to tell me what isn't safe? You want to tell me that my home isn't safe? Mine? What about yours? Cammie, this is my _home_. This is where I'm supposed to be. My parents will come back, and we'll be fine, okay?"

"Mandy! Your parents aren't coming back!" That seemed to shock her… what was she thinking? That her parents would come, and that I'd be her sister, and everything would be forgotten? Because that wasn't going to happen. I saw a car pass. It was way to flashy for a town like this. A man stepped out. I saw a com in his ear. Yep, this town wasn't safe. I nudged Mandy and looked pointedly towards the com. She looked puzzled. "Come," I whispered. Then I gently pulled her back to the house. My nerves were on edge, and I noticed three security cameras and fifteen bugs. Before crushing them, I turned to Mandy and said, "We'll just wait until your parents come home. We're safe here." She smiled, puzzled. Then I walked over and started crushing the bugs and cameras. I probably tipped our stalkers off to the fact that I knew exactly that they were there, but I didn't care. They weren't very good. "Look for bugs," I said quietly, and together we found another five in the house. We also found another three cameras. "Is that enough proof for you that we aren't safe?" I snapped at her. She looked down, and I instantly felt bad. "Mandy… I didn't mean it like that. Sorry. I know that this might not be the best day of your life." She nodded quietly. I went to the fridge to get her some water, and saw the note stuck to it.

**Looking for answers? Go to the circus or the museum.**

**:) 13**

I looked at it. The smiley could only be HappyFace13, which meant that whoever it was was close. Shivers ran down my spine, and I decided to keep the both of us out of the house as much as possible.

I was tired. I knew that we weren't safe, but I didn't have anything to do, no instructions, no place to go to. I wanted to go home, but Mandy seemed convinced that we were to far from anything. On the way back, I had tried to convince her to leave, but she wouldn't bulge. She thought that it was a terrible idea. I could stay with her, or I could leave alone, she had told me, and I just couldn't leave her here. For whatever reason we were here, somebody had brought us here for a reason – either because they wanted to watch what we would do, or because they wanted us safe from something. Either way, we were in danger.

But Mandy wasn't convinced by any of that. Except for the fact that we should be on edge, extremely careful. Never taking the same route twice, not speaking about anything personal, keeping away from everybody, and outside of the house as much as possible, but never quite alone. Crowded places were usually safer when you didn't want to be kidnapped – there would be many witnesses.

So we spent most of our days sitting on a bench near the town square pretending to read books, while really looking right above them, remembering every single face. Every hour or so, not following a specific pattern, one of us would go into the house, just to check if everything was in place. We never went to the circus, or the museum. Mandy had been to both, there was nothing interesting there. Nevertheless, we still kept it within eyesight at all times. The stranger from the computer shop never showed again, and neither did his car. He probably left in the night, or while we were in the house.

Three days passed like that, without any new notes from HappyFace13, any new threats, just that we found two more cameras right by the door, and I was starting to think about leaving. Mandy was getting edgier too. Nothing was happening, and that seemed to be a very bad sign.

On the fourth day since I woke up, a guy in a black suite stepped out of a black limo. That immediately grabbed Mandy's and my attention. We saw that he had a com unit, and that he was wearing a bulletproof vest. He didn't notice the two girls reading books on the bench. We also saw that there were two more people in the car – one of them possibly tied up by the way he moved, the other one watching him. The guy in the suit walked into the museum, and twenty minutes later (nineteen minutes and 42 seconds, to be exact) he walked back out again, a sheet of paper in his hands. I could only read the word at the very top – it read "confidential." I gulped. The tied-up guy was in big trouble, and so were we. This wasn't official business, and I could tell by the way the guy in the suit slendered to his car – nobody but us would've noticed him.

And yet there were six pairs of careful eyes on him, not counting the two of us or the people in the car. And each one of those pairs was alert, but calm. All the townspeople knew what was going on.

I looked around, and I saw a message on the big TV in the computer store window.

**Still don't want any information? Stop ignoring me Cammie…**

**:) 13**

**PS: I see you're attentive… Don't think you're the only one.**

The note was gone before anyone else had seen it. I quickly told Mandy about it. We both pretended like we had no idea that something out of the ordinary had happened, so Mandy said quite loudly to me, as if we were oblivious to the listening ears, "Some rich guys come by… And they like to show off…" she scoffed.

"Well he certainly didn't hold back. But that limo sure was clean… I want one like that," I said, and six people rolled their eyes. Mandy nodded, and Grace, Raul, Tate, Henry, Bob, and Puny Peter Parslow, turned away from us, uninterested. Bad move guys, I thought, smiling at how two girls could be underestimated so much, even by people who seemed to know a lot about creepy guys.

I turned around, scanning the neighborhood again for a sign that could explain everything, but nothing helped. A looked over to the circus and the museum, and honestly considered going there, we needed answers. But what would be the point? I doubted that there would be and exhibition or act called _Destroying Cammie Morgan and Mandy Smith_, or _The super-secret plan of guys in black suits spying on Gallagher Girls_.

I looked over again to the Circeloo Circus and the Cavern Museum, bored and tired of trying to figure things out when it hit me. The blood drained from my face, my heart sped up, and my breath came in gasps. Mandy looked at me, and I weakly looked over at the two buildings before realizing that it was only one. "The names…" I whispered, and her eyes widened in fear and panic. She looked at me, then searched for my hand, squeezing it.

* * *

**Ha! Cammie and Mandy figured it out! Did you? Happy Reviewing! :)**


	13. Chapter 13: Betrayed

**I am SO, SO SORRY. I thought I posted this a week and a half ago! I know that's still a long time that I haven't updated, but I had two exams this week, and tomorrow I have an exam and interview at my dream high school. So again, I am really sorry, and thanks to everyone who has commented or added, i appreciate them so much!**

**

* * *

**

How could I have missed it? It was the _Circeloo_ Circus, and the _Cavern_ Museum! Circleoo…. Cavern… Circle of Cavan!

For a few moments, everything seemed to shake around us, the world was spinning, and I couldn't focus. Mandy casually stood up, and pulled me along. My movements were robotic. I thought that we were moderately safe for the moment… when we were right in the lion's mouth! I was half-crazed, so now I saw what was hiding in the dust of the roads: Motion detectors, turned off laser grids, mini, automatic machine guns. I stumbled across them, probably showing them exactly that I was there… And that I knew. They'd be laughing at me now… I could almost imagine Zach's mom saying _Sure took you long enough!_ This was my biggest nightmare. I wondered if Mandy had guessed part of it: she was so calm now, and she seemed to know exactly that we couldn't leave or contact anybody. My eyes glazed past the computer store… I saw now that the scratches on the tables, if you put them all together, spelled out _Gadgets_.

It a whole town… undercover. This wasn't a town, this was the circle's HQ. I remembered my mom telling me that the circle worked in cells. This was one of the circle's HQ. I saw that the glass was very safe, and I saw a pair of fingerprint detectors.

Mandy pulled me into the house, but I knew there was no place we could hide. We'd have to leave. And we'd have to do it instantly. I was focused on that, but then I clamed down a bit and re-thought it. They knew now that we knew the truth. They'd expect us to run now. Mandy walked towards the fridge, and cracked and egg open, then she pulled open a drawer, took out a key, unlocked a drawer, pulled out a key, unlocked her bedside table, pulled out a diary, opened it, and I could see her counting the pages, "Thirty-five, thirty-six, thirty-seven," she stopped and fiddled around with the page, then she pulled out a small key. She went to her bed and moved aside a piece of wood, and I saw a small keyhole. She opened the door, revealing a small cupboard right in the wall. "I was always very careful with my most precious things. I got this microscope with my very fist bit of pocket money – I needed it for a science experiment, which I was doing with my crush. I was always so afraid to lose it. Of course, I keep other stuff in here too." She went back to the cracked egg, and after a while, she nodded. "We've eaten trackers."

I realized that they wanted to keep us here, but one question remained – what for? Why didn't they do something with us already? What were they waiting for? That made me very edgy. They wanted something, but we didn't know what. We couldn't brace ourselves against anything. They were good. Extremely good. We would have to fight to survive. "Go to sleep," Mandy ordered. I started refusing, but she pushed me onto the couch. There was something in her eyes and her expression that made me listen to her, even though I don't know why.

When I woke up, I knew that it was late in the evening. Mandy was sitting there, her expression extremely thoughtful. If she was paying attention to me – something I wasn't convinced of – she knew I was awake. Either way, she didn't move. I looked at her, thoughtful. I wondered what it would be like if you had lived in a small town, where you knew everyone. I grew up in a world where names and faces are temporary, but she grew up in a farming village. She knew everyone's stories, and she considered them all family. I wondered what that would be like. It must be nice. But then I thought about the harder question: What was Mandy thinking now? What if everyone you trusted was really someone that you should never, _ever_ trust? What if you realized that the people you consider family were dangerous, and maybe even wanted to harm you? Heck, they probably wanted to harm us. Well, they wanted to harm me. I wasn't so sure about her, but she seemed to be convinced that she was in danger too – and she was if she helped me. She drew in a long, ragged breath, and I realized that she was half-crying. The town outside was quiet, but I had a feeling that much would be going on in the actual HQ. It made me nervous, but Mandy turned her body slightly, and I could see the pain in her eyes, the disappointment, the judgment. I stood up, and she still didn't move. I sat beside her and put my arms around her. "it will all be fine," I promised in a soothing voice. "Trust me," I said, even though I wasn't sure of it myself.

* * *

**It's a bit of a short chapter, mostly emotional, please PLEASE review and tell me any idea you might have! Also, if you're into twilight, check out a story I'm writing about Bella's (made-up) sister who gets caught-up in the plot!**

**If you feel like ideas and some humor, also check out my (starting) series of one-shots about Cammie's dad returning at very unfortunate times :D it is purely humor with some emotion of course, but I think some might enjoy it.**

**Again, sorry that I haven't updated in so long, and happy reviewing!**


	14. Chapter 14: Nowhere to Hide

**Are there actual people that read this?

* * *

**

We had a plan. It was the best plan there was, considering the situation. Mandy hated it. Of course, I wasn't too thrilled about it either, but I had spoken her into it. As far as convincing and logical thinking went, I was still a little superior to her. I walked into the Circus's building. Of course, I knew what it was now. I saw the cameras, and the eyes scanners at almost every step. There were a few people, some practicing for an actually performance, and some chatting. Nobody seemed to realize I was there. Either they were very good actors, or I was still very stealthy. I hoped it was the latter.

I walked around, and saw a pretty young boy. I walked over to him. Time to test my honeypotting skills. I smiled shyly. "Hey."

"Hi," he answered.

"Do you work for the circus?"

"Yeah, you could say that."

"How come?"

"I have nothing else to do. Who are you?"

"I'm Julie."

"I'm Tom."

"Hi Tom," I smiled again.

"So what are you doing here?"

"I was visiting my friend, and I wondered what this is. I've never seen a circus that stays in one place."

"It doesn't. We move around a lot, all over the world actually. But we have a base." He smiled an I-know-something-you-don't-know inside joke smile, and I knew that he was in on the secret. The good thing was that he seemed to have no idea who I was.

"Hm. Care to show me around?"

"Of course Julie."

We walked around, and he talked to some people, all of which acted indifferently to my story. I was getting more and more confused with each person we passed. "Isn't there some sort of manager?" I asked. Maybe he knew something more, and these were just the people he used. That's why they didn't know much.

"Well… Yeah. But you really don't want to meet them."

"Them?"

"The manager and his wife. I think they even have a son, even though I've never met him. He's never here. I only remember hearing about him once, a year or so ago."

Now _that_ was interesting. "What did you hear about him?"

"Well Gracie was all excited about this hot bad boy, and then Old Olga came walking along with Little Lucy, and she said he must be the managers' son. I didn't hear much more about him. He goes to some boarding school, Black Thorn or something. I thought it was Blackthorne, but when I brought up the website, it was some private detention facility. That's all I know," he smiled sort of crookedly, and I could tell that he enjoyed talking to me, but not about another guy. I was making progress.

"Some guy at a boarding school, son of snooty managers? Pass!" I smiled, and Tom smiled a lot wider. "Why don't you tell me something about you? That should be a lot more interesting."

He had opened his mouth to speak, but then a man came along. He was built much like Zach, so I guessed that must be the manager. I changed my pose, and let my hair hang slightly before my face, hoping that – not having seen me before – he wouldn't recognize me. "Thomas, who is this?" he asked, and from his sly smile I knew that he did. Well, now I was curious to see what would happen. I already knew the escape routes out of the building. Those that I didn't know were the ones that mattered though – the ones out of the town.

"This is Julie Cosima Wells," Tom smiled. I turned towards him.

"I never told you that."

"Well I've heard of you. Gracie talks a lot." I shook my head, trying to look annoyed.

"Well, hello Julie," Mr. Goode – I assumed – smiled. "I am Mr. Goode. The manager of this place." Didn't he know that he shouldn't mention his full name? Then again, did her know who I was? What kind of charade was this?

"Hello Mr. Goode. Tom was showing me around. It seems like the show would be interesting to watch." Either way, I kept up the charade.

"Oh please, feel free to come at any time. Any friend of Tom's is a special guest."

"Why, thank you Mr. Goode, but I don't know how much longer I'll be in town. I'll be sure to visit though, and then I'll definitely watch a show." I knew that if he realized what I was actually saying, he would acknowledge it. I was telling him that I found a way out, and that I was threatening them. He didn't respond with more than a smile. Then he left.

Tom shrugged. "It's too bad you're leaving. Hey, are you going back home? Maybe I could visit you?" he asked, his voice and eyes filled with hope. I started to think that I might actually be very good at honeypotting – even younger and rather innocent targets.

"Well, yeah. If you have a way to come with us. See, only two people can fit in the vehicle we're leaving with, so if you have another way of getting us to – well – a bigger town, or like… an airport, sure!" I was praying that this would work.

"Well…" darn it! "I do get some of the supplies that we need every second week from this place a couple hundred miles away. I could tae one of you, and then bring the car back, and then your car can pick the remaining two." I smiled.

"That sounds interesting. But maybe you can just take both of us there with you. Sounds better doesn't it?" I smiled really seductively, something I wasn't good at, but if it distracted him, it would work. It did. He nodded eagerly.

"Tonight?" I asked. I knew that we needed preparation, but I also knew that they'd expect that. He nodded again. "Hey, do you want to show me that car?" I asked. I'd tamper a little with it – make it go faster, more miles per gallon, things like that. I was no Liz, but I could do a few things. He nodded, grabbed my hand and pulled me along. I went. When I saw the car, I realized my luck and smiled. Easy as pie.

We were in the car. Mandy was sitting in the back seat, and I was sitting in the front. I assumed that if the Circle tried to find us, they wouldn't look at the most obvious person. I hoped. This plan was so risky. It was utterly and completely idiotic. But I grabbed the first chance I got. Mandy had cursed e a thousand times. She had called me a moron and a million other things. I didn't care. I was too terrified to wait. I had a feeling they knew that. While we were getting into the car, I was jumpy. When we were driving between huge fields, I was nervous. When we were driving a long a long, empty, country road, I was freaking out. By the time we were on the highway, I was having a heart attack.

Why was this going so well? Was the Circle really that bad? Or was this some sort of plan? How good was Tom? I knew we could take him out. Besides, Mandy had her pepper spray.

"Tom?" I gushed at some point. He tried to turn around and face the road at the same time. "Do we have to drive to that place in the middle of the night? Can't we stop at the next town and wait until morning?" I asked, keeping my voice the same, but my tone was a little too bratty, a little too whiny for a boy to say no to.

"Um… Julie… I guess we could do that." He was still completely distracted by me. He was going to drop us off, but he wouldn't come with us, because he had to bring the supplies back to the circus. At least he hadn't noticed yet.

We arrived in Nashville, which was _way_ of his course. I had directed him into some small roads, and on the highway I had told him to turn without blinking a few times. So I was really hoping that we were safe for now. It felt nice – having escaped that is. Afraid of being followed – not so much.

Carefully looking around, I stepped out of the car, and so did Mandy. Tom was about to get out, and I bent down to the window to look at him. "Hey so, go finish your job, 'kay? Thanks for bringing us here first!"

He looked… He looked at me in a way that made me feel awful. "You made me drive you here, in the middle of the night, and you're asking me to go back?" I was about to respond, when he continued, speaking all the words I didn't want to hear. "Julie, I know the Circle wants you. That's why you were there and I _know you know_. That's why I decided to help you. I was the only one that could've gotten you out of there, and I knew that you had to know that – sort of. I've seen the people they want. They usually don't look anything like a sixteen-year old girl. But I think that once they decided that it was your turn, you'd look just like them – either a bloody mess, or a corpse. That's why I got you out of it – I doubt they really want you for something. But you can't make me go back. They'll kill me."

I was not prepared for this. I honestly thought he was a bit of an idiot, a slow kid. But he knew so much. And apparently, he wanted to help me because I didn't deserve to be there. I stopped for a minute. "I'm sorry." He looked at me quizzically. "I'm sorry for dragging you into this, Tom. Don't go back. But you can't come with us – not where we're going."

"I saved you for _us_."

"There is no 'us,' Tom. There's you, and there's me. I promise you my friendship forever – you probably saved my life. And as a friend – you can_not_ come with me know. Go, change your name and looks, and get out of this world while you still can. Bye." I felt terrible. He was in love with me, and that's why he saved me. And I was just breaking him off after he finished his service. But sadly, that was honeypotting. I breathed in deeply, and then merged into the crowd. I was quietly giving Mandy tips on how to go unnoticed, and she was following them. I took a pretty wide berth around an ATM, and walked into a store. "Keep your head low," I warned Mandy. Then I bought us some clothes, and some hair dye. We walked out of the store and into a public bathroom. It was pretty disgusting, but we both changed clothes, and we dies Mandy's strawberry pink hair a dark, woodsy brown, and I got some high- and lowlights. Mandy's curls were made tighter, and I used bronzer and some shoe cream to change our faces. Then I snapped pictures to make sure we wouldn't forget.

Then we walked outside, hoping that we would get as far away as possible – knowing that there was nowhere we could really hide.

* * *

**Happy Reviewing! (But I might just break this story off, if nobody is reading it.)**


	15. Chapter 15: Tales and Tails

**Sorry this took awhile. I'll tell you the rest at the end! Enjoy!**

**

* * *

**

"So what do we do now?" Mandy asked. After all, we were just two teenage girls walking along the street.

"We need to contact someone."

"How?"

"Well this town is not safe. So we will take a train to travel to… North Dakota."

"Why North Dakota?"

"Because it's the first place that came to my mind, it's not special and neither of us has anything to do with it. If we over think this, they'll know."

"Fine. Let's go get train tickets," Mandy gave up and pulled out her fake ID. I had one too – actually I had about five different ones I kept just in case. Today, my name was Anastasia Olivia Murray, and Mandy's was Hannah Faith Hicks.

"We would like two tickets to South Dakota – the next train that's leaving. And from there, I was two tickets to Idaho." Mandy didn't seem surprised at my request, but she did shift onto the other foot.

"Young ladies, you know we also have tickets to Idaho, right?" he asked, leaning over the counter. He smelled.

"Oh we're picking someone up the way," I smiled happily, naively, and he gave me the tickets.

After we walked away, Mandy pulled me to a stop. "Idaho?"

"I had to leave a false trail! And I'll leave more than one," I warned her. We were running, and I wasn't taking any chances. I just had to make sure not to leave too many false trails – they'd know what I was doing.

So we travelled by train, talking quietly about generic stuff, always attentive to who got on the train, never attracting attention to ourselves. It was a little awkward, especially since this was what we had been trained for – and yet we felt really inexperienced.

In South Dakota, I asked for two tickets to Nebraska, and two to Wyoming. This time, I told the guy that we'd be staying in Nebraska for two days, visiting "Hannah's" gay uncle. We went into the bathroom and changed disguises in the stalls. I was now Emma Davidson and Mandy was Chloe Jessica Wiley. This time, we purchased tickets to North Dakota, and from there to Montana and then Oregon.

I was about to tell Mandy to change disguises again and travel to North Dakota with two tickets each (for the different disguises), and then send two random girls of to Montana, Mandy scowled at me, "You're running out of states _Emma_!" Her face was so annoyed, and I could feel for her – we were both sleep deprived – I started laughing. Maybe it was a way to keep myself awake and alert, and maybe my instincts kicked in so that Mandy wouldn't be mad at me. We laughed, as discreetly as possible, and then got on our train.

When we stepped out in North Dakota, we had a tail. I could sense him, I could see him. I looked at Mandy, and I knew she had seen him too. Casually, we walked into the girls' bathroom, and out the other door. Down the elevator, up the escalator, and further up the elevator. Fire stairs down, and then we bought tickets to Iowa. He was a tough tail, and he had change disguises multiple times, making him easy to miss. But I knew that I wouldn't miss him again – his face had grown to familiar in the hours of trying to lose him.

It was around four in the afternoon when we were positively tail free – we had actually been pretty tail free for about two hours, but we were trying to make sure. At four-fifteen, Mandy pointed out two girls with their mother to me. I focused on lip-reading while Mandy led me around. "I'm sorry girls, but we can't afford for both of you to go see Granny," the mother was saying sadly to her daughters.

"But we have to mommy! Before she leaves and goes to visit Jesus!" a younger sister, about four years old, whined. Tears stung in my eyes.

"Hey Brianna, don't worry," said the older sister, maybe twelve, hugging the whining girl. "Do you want me to tell granny to tell Jesus hi from you?" she asked, her expression compassionate, but I could see the sly smile – if her sister said yes, Brianna would be the one staying home.

"But Adrianna, I want to go see granny!" Brianna looked up at her sister. She wasn't silly.

"Hush B. You're too young to travel alone." The little girl broke down crying, tugging its mom's arm.

"Enough, both of you! Brianna, honey. Your sister is right, you can't travel all the way to Des Moines hospital alone," the mother finally intervened. "And you, Adrianna! I know you're older but that is no way to speak to your sister! Just because your father called you Ad and Brianna, doesn't mean you're the A and she's the B."

"But she is," Adrianna muttered, earning a stern glare.

"If you keep this up, you're not going!" the mother warned.

As if on cue, Adrianna's face had silent tears flowing all over it. "I'm sorry I'm being so mean Brianna," she hugged her little sister, "and mommy, I'm sorry I haven't been a good daughter. I should be helping you a lot more…" she sniffled, hugging her mother too. "I'm just going to miss granny so much!" she pretended to cry harder.

I nudged Mandy, and we walked over to the mother, quietly pulling her over.

"Hello ma'am. We're from an organization that helps people see loved ones if they need to travel across a few states for it…" she trailed off, leaving the bait hanging there.

"We recently got a donation to help your family – you are the Smiths right?" Even if I was wrong, I had a feeling that they would not decline this chance, even if they had to lie for it. The mother nodded. "To go visit their grandfather at Des Moines hospital. Your father, I assume." I continued.

She nodded eagerly. Mandy gave them two tickets and our fake IDs in an envelope. "Goodbye and good luck Mrs. Smith!" she smiled over her shoulder. I felt bad that there were only two tickets, so the mother wouldn't be able to go, but we had hopefully sent the Circle off to Iowa. We left the station, keeping out heads low around the cameras, and walked towards a restaurant. But before we even got there, we had another two tails.

* * *

**Okay so... I am looking for someone to beta this story! Please PM me if you are interested or if you know someone who might be interested, or if you want to suggest your own beta to me! :)**

**I wasn't really sure where I was going with this story, but I promise this is the last travelling chapter. It's a bit of a placeholder, but things will get interesting soon! Please, please, _please_ write me all of your suggestions, I appreciate them so much!**

**Happy Reviewing!**


	16. Chapter 16: Phone Call

**I have good news (besides the fact that the stupid glitch is fixed and I can post again)! I have now made an actual plan for this story ( At first, I just had an idea, and I really wanted to write it down. Then I realized I had to make something out of it, and made it up as I went along, because my imagination skills are a lot sadder than my writing skills.) So now this story will hopefully progress a lot better and faster. Oh and by the way, I don't own the Gallagher Girls series, which all of their fans (including me) are probably very happy about.**

* * *

"Cammie," Mandy whispered after we'd been walking for hours. We had lost all of our tails, and we had eaten several meals, but I knew what she was going to say – we hadn't slept since Tennessee, three days and nights ago. I was still okay, being trained and all, but I was very surprised that Mandy hadn't passed out yet. Even though she was drinking a Starbucks espresso I could see her eyes drooping.

"Alright, let's find a place to sleep," I said, knowing that I had pushed for too long. If the circle tried to get us now, we probably wouldn't be able to fight them off anyways.

We checked into a four-star hotel under our very first disguises, Anastasia and Hannah. As soon as we got into our room, Mandy took of her shoes, and then half-crawled under the covers before falling asleep. Straining to keep my eyes open, I searched the room for bugs, closed the heavy curtains, locked the bathroom window and looked down the hallway. Then I made sure that the hotel phone was working, tiredly took off my shoes, and tried to make myself look like a normal person sleeping after a day of touring a town. I don't think I managed too well.

I woke up to Mandy going through the fridge in our room. As soon as I yawned, she turned around. "Hey Cam!" she smiled brightly. Nothing like a very long sleep to get a girl in a good mood.

"Good morning… Wait, is it morning?" I asked, because my internal clock had just rebooted and I was a little confused. Mandy looked at her watch.

"It's six in the morning."

"Of the same day? You mean I've slept four hours? That's ridiculous."

"Obviously not. You've slept twenty-eight hours. Thanks for clearing the room by the way, I half-noticed before I crashed. It's a miracle you could still do it. I wouldn't have managed."

"Whoa… But that's okay, I don't get as tired." I sat up and stretched my arms. I was so _sore_. "Oh god… Is this how people feel when they get out of a coma? I feel like I've been beaten up by Bex!"

"Stretch, it helps," she said as she smiled triumphantly, having found a couple of oranges and some water. I did some of the classical stretches that we did in P&E, and was immediately reminded that we were still on the run. By the time most of the soreness was gone and I felt like myself again, rather than a board, Mandy had made us a temporary breakfast until she could order room service. We sat at the small coffee table and hungrily scarfed everything down. "I know this isn't the best time to bring this up, but what do we do now? I actually think it might be a good idea to be out of here around nine, then we still have the whole day in front of us, and hopefully we can gain some time. Unless the Goodes are willing to tell lots of people who they're hunting and conjure up a big group that can work together well in a few hours that could check out every possible false trail we had laid and had already located us, we literally had to run."

"Yeah, I know… I think it's time to contact somebody. I'm a little surprised they haven't tracked us down yet. We're talking about the CIA! Anyways, what's the safest way to contact them?"

"Well, we could go to the police, but the police doesn't exactly have a high clearance, and we know that the Circle has officials everywhere."

"We should just contact my mother at Gallagher."

"Over a payphone? A normal phone? What?"

"I think that I should get two tickets: New Hampshire, make the call, and back."

"You're crazy! Firstly, there's a much bigger change we'll be caught if we're apart. Secondly, you're not going there alone, and you're not using a payphone!"

"Alright, you're right! We should just call them from the front desk."

"The manager could be a spy."

"From the room?"

"Could be intercepted."

"_Any_ phone could be intercepted Mandy."

"Alright, call now!" I really liked Mandy, and I knew that she had changed a lot. Her previously slightly rough and harsh voice, that always had a bit of a sarcastic tone beneath it had melted into a quick, quiet melody that seemed to always be well thought-out and clear. I also knew that Mandy had changed as a person. She didn't act as mysterious, even though I hadn't learned a lot about her, and she also seemed to always be thinking from all points of view. She knew there was no time to enjoy breakfast. I felt a little bit like a child, urged by her mother to do its chores while it just wants to sit.

I nodded and reached for the phone. I remembered the number, and checked it twice to make sure I wouldn't call the wrong person and possibly give us away. I knew the phone in my mom's office was ringing, and that the security guards would also know that somebody was calling so that she could be informed if she was outside her office. I just hoped she'd pick up fast. "What do we do if they don't pick up?'

"We call the Baxters," Mandy said decisive. I just nodded, going along with it.

Finally, someone picked up. I recognized professor Buckingham's voice. "Gallagher Academy here."

"Professor Buckingham, it's Cammie Morgan." I didn't know what her response would be. I was curious, but she didn't reply. "I don't know what you know about my location, but I'm not going to share it over the phone, even though I'm guessing that you're tracking it down already. Don't worry, we'll be gone from here in a matter of seconds." I motioned Mandy to pack up our things just to realize that she was already done. She was always a step ahead of my today. "Professor?" I asked, now clearly demanding a response.

"Ms. Morgan…"

* * *

**Happy Reviewing!**


	17. Chapter 17: Is it over?

"Ms. Morgan… I don't know what to say! I'm going to call your mother."

"Professor Buckingham, where is she?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Why didn't she pick up the phone?"

"She's teaching a class."

"A class? But she doesn't teach! What?"

"She had to take over a class because an instructor had to leave on short notice. But don't worry, I will get her."

"Which class? And why did you answer the phone instead?"

"The class I'm supposed to be teaching is having a full-day P&E examination, Ms. Morgan. You should be following the dates more carefully. I'm going to get your mother now, I suspect that we don't have a lot of time, you should know better than to ask unimportant questions now, Ms. Morgan."

I waited for a while until the phone was picked up. "Cammie?" I felt a rush of emotion when I heard my mother's voice. I'd missed her so much!

"Mom! I missed you!"

"Oh goodness sweetheart I missed you too!" I thought she might be on the verge of crying, but she seemed to be holding herself together.

Mandy had just came out of the bathroom. "Your mother?" she asked me, and when I nodded I saw something flash in her eyes. I wasn't sure what it was. It was probably because she was missing her own mother, and she didn't know where her parents were.

"Mom, I don't know how much time we have. We're going to leave now. But I don't know what to do. I'm afraid the call will be intercepted. I'm afraid we're being followed. I don't know what to do. Make a run for Gallagher? Isn't that what they will be expecting? Where can I go, what can I do?"

"Sh sweetheart, don't panic."

"Mom, I've been 'not panicking' for the past couple of weeks while we were trying to… I'll tell you in person."

She understood. "I know, I know. I can't tell you what to do. I know that whatever I tell you will be unsafe. I know people prefer known areas. Unless you know what to do, I can't help you."

"Make a run for it or not?"

"I think it's a good idea. There's nowhere you can run but here."

"That rhymed."

"And not even here is safe, apparently. But it's safer now."

I nodded, forgetting she couldn't see me. "Yes," I quickly said. "I'll do that."

"Love you!"

"Love you mom." I didn't know what she thought, but I knew that I was going to make a run for it.

"Are we going there?" Mandy asked quietly. I nodded. "Why? We'll be caught."

"We won't. After the phone call, that's not what they'll expect."

"What if they didn't overhear it?"

"They did."

"Ticked to Ohio it is," she smiled, knowing that's not what we were doing.

We left the hotel with our luggage, paying with the little cash we had. Then I stopped a taxi. "We would like to go to the police base of the city. The closest one please. But not one of those tiny ones. You know, a bigger one, where we can actually get something done. I mean… Oh you know what I mean!"

"Yes miss, I do understand. There's a police force fitting your description right across the street. It's not huge, but they are connected to both the FBI and the CIA. But if you want me to bring you somewhere else…"

"Oh. Um… Thank you!" I jumped back out and left a dollar there – for his honesty.

"Have a nice day miss!"

We crossed the street in a hurry, and walked into the police station. "Good morning miss, good morning" a security guard greeted us as we walked in. I will need to see you IDs, and I must ask for your purpose here with us." We passed him our fake IDs.

"We're here to see a PI from the FBI, sir," Mandy said.

"May I ask which one, miss?"

"We don't know which one. We want to find one."

"I see. Ground floor, turn left and go to the information desk."

"Thank you, have a nice day!" we chorused as we walked in and went to the info desk.

"Hello, how may I help you?" a young woman asked us.

"We want to see a representative of the FBI," I said.

"No problem, miss. But there are a lot of representatives of the FBI here. I need to ask you for something more specific."

"Maybe somebody who can help us with security issues," Mandy proposed.

"That would not be somebody from the FBI, miss. That would be our local police force."

"But we're not local," Mandy contradicted.

"The national police force then."

I decided to step in before it got out of hand. "We don't need actual protection, ma'am. We need something closer to a PI than a bodyguard. But either way, it needs to be on the level of the FBI."

"That sounds serious."

"It is."

"Well, just a moment. I will announce your arrival – please go up to the second floor and then it's the first door on your right."

We went, not sure what we would do once we got there. Tell the whole truth? Try to play our cards so that we got in contact again with an absolutely safe phone? "Right over here, Miss Hicks, Miss Murray. Are you Miss Hicks?" He asked Mandy. She nodded. "Have a seat, please." We sat. "Now, this must be pretty serious." We nodded. "I can assure you, this room is safe." We looked around nervously and nodded. "Please, tell me what you need."

"An absolutely, undisputedly, NSA and CIA-level safe phone," I exploded. I was tired of playing games. "That's what we need."

He seemed started. "Well if you need a phone… I mean…"

"I'm sorry. I think I should start at the beginning."

"Yes miss Murray, that would be nice." Mandy just sat still.

"The thing is: we're being followed. Hannah was kidnapped a few years ago, but she got away quickly, and the local police never investigated it, as far as we know. We've been followed from Nebraska. We were supposed to have our vacation there, but when she spotted him, we kind of made a run for it. Now we're here. We're afraid he's been intercepting our phones and stuff. That's why we need that. And the other thing we would really appreciate is if we could get an absolutely safe ride back to Virginia." I had said it. I had revealed our destination, and I was deadly afraid that we'd be in trouble. But we were on the run. Being followed by an uncountable number of people. We didn't know anybody and weren't sure what to do.

"And you wouldn't tell this to the officer or the information desk downstairs?"

"We're extremely exhausted, sir, and we're very afraid. Please don't judge us," Mandy said. I realized she had dark circles under her eyes again, for whatever reason.

"I understand. I will issue a safe car. But 'Virginia' isn't specific enough. Fell free to go into the room next door to make a call if you need to while I arrange this. Do not worry, it is safe."

"Thank you," we mumbled and went into a small room with a phone. I dialed the number of the Gallagher Academy again.

"Gallagher Academy for Privileged Young Women," I heard my mother's voice.

"It's me," I said, hoping she recognized my voice.

"Ca…"

"Yes," I interrupted her before she could reveal anything.

"I'm calling from a police station. The FBI will give us a safe ride home because of the person who has been following my friend."

"Yes, I understand. Where are you?"

"North Dakota."

"Alright, then I'll see you when you get here."

"It'll take a while."

"A day or so, not counting rests."

"We'll survive."

"Yes…" she sounded extremely worried.

"Hey. We'll survive," I said in a stronger voice. This time I meant it.

"One thousand, six-hundred, thirty-two miles. That's a long way." Yes, my mom has a crazy map-slash-GPS-system in her head.

"Don't worry."

"Alright."

"Good."  
"No, wait."

"I wasn't going anywhere."

She chuckled. "How about somebody picks you up halfway?"

"Who's somebody?"

"Whoever I find."

"Alright. Where's halfway?"

"I'd guess at the I-90 Access Road, where you have to take a slight left at the East-West Toll road, in the North-Eastern Corner of Indiana." No, I don't know how her GPS works.

"Okay, I'll pass on the message."

"It's about eight-hundred sixty-five miles. That's still more than half a day of driving. Oh well I guess it's okay, considering the circumstances." I made a mental note to ask her to teach me that.

"We'll be okay. It's the FBI."

"Yes, alright. I'll see you when you get here."

"Bye!" I put the phone down.

"So?" Mandy asked, impatient.

"Somebody will pick us up halfway. I need to tell him that before I forget where halfway was. She looked it up on her GPS."

"Good," Mandy said and we went to look for him.

"Excuse me? I made a phone call – they want you to drop us off halfway – at the I-90 Access Road, where you have to take a slight left at the Indiana East-West Toll Road. It should be about a fourteen-hour drive; they'll try to be there before us."

"That'll be hard for them, but I appreciate it nevertheless. Don't worry girls, I'll only hand you off to somebody you both confirm. If that's what you say, then I trust you."

"Thank you sir," Mandy smiled broadly. It looked like our adventure was almost over.

I had no idea how wrong I was.

* * *

** The next chapter will sort of mark the end of the first part of this story. Anyways... Happy Reviewing!**


	18. Chapter 18: Half the Prey

We had been driving for almost twelve hours. Mandy had fallen asleep and woken up again several times, and the two policemen had switched places twice. The landscape around us was hardly changing, and even though I was completely bored, tired, and I finally felt like I was safe, I couldn't sleep. I closed my eyes a couple of times so that the policemen wouldn't become suspicious, but I was wide awake while we drove from North Dakota through Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. I was edgy and a little hyper, but I was hoping it was just because I was excited.

Eventually, I drowned out everything around me and sunk into a bit of a trance, glancing at the endless fields around us. I was thinking about what had happened since Mandy arrived when the car stopped again. I was surprised, because there hadn't been a traffic light in a long while. Then I realized that it wasn't a traffic light. We had pulled over.

I gently shook Mandy, who immediately opened her eyes. "We're here," she said, and I nodded. She carefully opened the door, unsure of what she should expect. I tried to peer out the window into the black limo that had stopped close to us to see who had come – Mandy and me had made it into a riddle. Would it be my mother? Solomon? Somebody we didn't even dare think of?

As soon as Mandy stepped out of the door, the passenger-side door of the black car opened too. The Bubblegum guard stepped out (yes, I never really bothered to learn his name. Another thing on _My Long List of Things I am Ashamed of_.) The policemen left the car too. One of them went to shake the guard's hand, the other one got the few pieces of luggage we had.

The policeman came to us. "Is this okay?" he asked.

"Of course, sir," I replied quickly, sending sideways glances towards the guard and the other policeman.

"Sure?" he checked.

"Yes," Mandy smiled. "Thank you _so_ _much_."

"No problem at all miss. Goodbye."

"Goodbye, sir," we chorused, and then shook the other policeman's hand before the Bubblegum Guard shooed us into the car.

"Hello girls. No, don't tell me what happened. You'll cover that with Mrs. Morgan. Now get in the car, I don't know if the FBI is completely trustworthy."

"Well, they got us here," Mandy countered.

"Yes, and I'm just hoping that they got you here _safely_; because I'm not convinced of that. I'm not convinced of that at all."

"Well I'm sure we'll be safe now, right? I mean, at the Academy they must've added security, and this car is probably safe, and…"

"Just get in the car," he put a hand on her back and guided her into the seat next to me. "These windows are missile-proof, so there's no opening them."

"Are you serious?" Mandy started asking, but I cut her off with a simple, "Of course, sir." I tried to find a way to make Mandy understand that even though he was there for our protection, I'd rather not anger him. "Go back to sleep Mandy."

"Oh, I guess you don't want me to be rude."

"Just sleep," I smiled mischievously, and she giggled, but closed her eyes and – thankfully – her mouth.

"Cammie, I don't want details, even though I'm practically sure this car is safe and that I'll know them sooner or later, but I want you to tell them on average how much danger you're in; zero being you could run into our enemies and they'll give you a hug and put you back in our car, and ten being they're about to smash into this car with a full army."

"Um… maybe eight point five?" I didn't want to exaggerate, but I knew that it was serious.

"Good to know." He stepped on the gas, and the trees outside became a blur. "You'll be fine Cammie," he calmed me down when he saw my worried glance outside. "And yes, the car will survive my driving," he added when he saw my worried glance onto his dashboard. I nodded. "You should just go to sleep." I nodded again. "Cammie, you can consider this an order." I nodded for the third time, and closed my eyes. He put on some music, and even though it was quiet, I recognized it as _Nine Million Bicycles_ by Katie Melua. I smiled. This song always calmed me down – it was the sweetest thing ever. My conscience left me as a beautiful image of _There are six billion people in the world / More or less, and it makes me feel quite small / But you're the one I love the most of all_ as a forbidden face popped up in front of my mental eye. But alone the imagination of this face made me feel safe. And then it merged with another face I was hoping to forget – Tom.

I woke up to Mandy humming along to Selena Gomez's _Live Like There's No Tomorrow_. There were no more trees outside, just more cars. We had slowed down – I wasn't sure if it was so that we wouldn't attract attention or because we were safe now – but we were still going way above the speed limit. "Slept well?" Mandy asked. Now that our lives didn't depend on each other anymore, she had gone back to the person she had been when she sat next to us at dinner – a little superior, a little sarcastic, a little confusing, a little regretful, more than a little secretive. I didn't say anything. Of course I was glad that it was over – the fear, the constant threat, not knowing what the next day was going to bring – but I had thought that Mandy was changed forever – kind of like Macey had been after some time with us.

"We'll stop in a short while, get something to eat," the Bubblegum Guard informed us.

It was six minutes and four seconds later that we stopped in front of one of those small road cafés. Mandy and I reached for the doors, but he stopped us. "You stick to me, ladies. I still don't trust that we're safe. I never do."

"Of course," I assured him at the same time Mandy said, "Whatever."

We briskly walked towards the café, and Mandy and I each got a Coke and a donut. He got a coffee and a croissant. We didn't talk a lot while we were eating – Mandy tried to, but she almost slipped up a couple of times, so every time she opened her mouth after that, he just shot her evil glares and she kept her mouth shut. We had barely finished when he told us that it was time to leave, and only reluctantly let us go to the bathroom.

We were just coming out when I bumped into someone. "Sorry," I said, but when nobody replied I looked up. "Tom?"

"Hey Cam – Julie," he corrected himself.

"Cam?"

"I got you confused with somebody else."

"I don't believe you."

"Whatever."

"Tom, what are you doing here?"  
"You told me not to go back. I helped you Julie, okay? I let you use me, but you told me to leave, hide, and disappear of the face of the earth. May I assume that you didn't even bother thinking about if I had parents? Or the fact that I'm not trained? I'm guessing you are, because the Circle wants you." I hushed him, and he lowered his voice. "You told me to hide, and since you're great at hiding, I followed you."

"But…"

"But _what_? There's always a but with you!"

"You need to stop following us."

"I can't. I'll die."

"You won't."

"You can't know that."

"You do realize that there's a really big security guard with us that can smash you to pulp?"

"You realize that I've already done my job?" he laughed and ran. I was too shocked to move until I saw the van stop. A van that he was running towards at top speed. I ran after him, but then I saw four large men in the van, their stun guns pointed at me. They all shot. There was only one thought in my head: they couldn't capture me again. It wasn't going to happen. I was desperate, panicking as I ran back into the café, where the guard had already paid so that we could leave.

That's when I realized that she was gone. I was only half the prey.


	19. Chapter 19: Home and the CIA

**Yes, I know, I haven't updated since like MAY. Really sorry about that... Well anyways, how was everyone's summers? XD Whatever, just read ahead :)**

* * *

I heard a scream from where the van was. The guard followed me as I ran outside. There I saw Tom lying on the ground. He had been stunned, but it looked like it had been an accident. They were about to get him into the van, when I heard four deafening shots from next to me, and they were all lying on the bottom of the van, their knees bleeding heavily. One of them barely closed the door, and the van drove away. I faintly heard somebody screaming, "You left him behind you idiot! Now they'll get him!"

And they were right. The Bubblegum guard picked him up, and held him tightly as he walked around the café. He shoved him into the back seat, and told me to sit in the back, then he gave me a pair of handcuffs and a pair of ankle cuffs, as well a sedating drug – just to be on the safe side. I cuffed Tom's hands behind his back, cuffed his legs, put on his seatbelt, and leaned his head onto the window, so that it looked like he was sleeping. Then I assumed a similar pose and watched him carefully. I thought I had sort of known him, but I didn't think that he would actually work of the Circle. It just… didn't seem right. He looked very young as he slept, and guilt washed through me as I thought about what he would be facing.

I was feeling absolutely sick for most of the ride, and it wasn't carsickness. At some point, the guard looked at me in his mirror. I must've looked horrible, or horrified, or both. Maybe he guessed why. "We'll get Mandy, Cammie – don't you worry." I felt as if he had pulled a rubber band and snapped it into my brain. Mandy. I had hardly thought of her. The only thing I hoped for her is that she was still passed out, stunned; anything but with the knowledge that they had gotten her. All compassion towards Tom had vanished.

I only came out of my horrified trance when we were driving through Roseville. It was still all the same as it had been before. Before the Code Black, before Mandy, before Zach, before Josh. While we were driving along the driveway, I closed my eyes to avoid any curios stares. I knew very well that there would whispering, looks, and rumors. I just wanted to pretend like I didn't know about them.

It was in the morning, so there were classes. Tom – it had dawned on me that this probably wasn't his real name – wasn't awake yet, but he was stirring. Mom was waiting for us right by the entrance. I walked in behind the bubblegum guard, expecting something embarrassing. But I should have known that my mom wasn't that kind of mom. She looked beautiful as ever, even though it looked like she hadn't smiled in a really long time. When she saw me, she hugged me the way she always hugs me, and simply said, "I missed you, kiddo," even though her voice sounded a little thick. My mom was a great spy and amazing at keeping her cool, and I had a feeling that she was straining herself to stay calm, assuming that I was in shock. Which I was. "Come to my office sweetheart. You too, Mr. Large."

"Tell me the short form of the story Cam, please. You'll tell me all of it when I know what to do with him." She didn't ask where Mandy was. I couldn't help thinking that I had the greatest mom in the world.

So I told her everything. How we woke up in Mandy's old home in a tiny village, the days before and those after HappyFace13, told her about Tom, Mr. Goode, the escape, how we tried to leave false trails, and then about when we finally felt safe when the FBI dropped us off. I barely held myself together when I told her about the café. She hugged me tightly and kissed my forehead. "We'll get her, sweetie."

"No you won't," a raspy voice said. Tom had woken up.

"Yes, onto you," my mother said. "I think there's a helicopter that's waiting. Come on Cammie, you need to come too."

Bubble – I mean Mr. Large released his feet, and we walked to the waiting helicopter, accompanied by several very big, very bulky guys and a couple of girls. "What about Bex and Liz and Macey, mom?" I had kept myself from asking that question, because I knew that everything would be done in time, but now we were going into a helicopter, and even though I didn't want to admit it, I didn't want to take the risk. The Circle was still out there and I didn't want to leave so soon from the place that I'd been trying to get to such a long time.

She looked down at me from inside the helicopter, thinking for a moment. "Cam, we're just going to D.C. and we'll be back in a few hours. Come on," she motioned with her head, and I joined her, sighing. The door closed behind me. "Besides," she whispered in my ear, "I think that it might be better if people are expecting you."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I know how you feel. Gallagher is your home, and that's what it should feel like, sweetheart. Your sisters care about you." And then I couldn't stop myself from crying anymore.

I was a little embarrassed and looked around to see who was watching and if Tom was among them, but we were completely alone except for one guy that was guarding the door. I guessed that the others were in the back room.

x

x

When we arrived in D.C., I expected us to go through the women's wear store again, but the helicopter landed in the countryside. I wasn't sure what was going to happen then until the ground started to rise and we dipped below it. A hatch closed above us.

There were several men below ground, and one woman in a business suit and a clipboard. They opened the doors of the helicopter and immediately tore out Tom. He was wearing ankle cuffs again and I expected him to fall, but they didn't even let his feet touch the ground. They quickly took him through a door with fingerprint scanners. I wanted to ask where they were taking him, but I kept my mouth shut as one of the other guards offered me his hand to step out of the helicopter. I was a little surprised, but again I didn't say anything. The same guard helped my mom down, and Mr. Large stepped out by himself. Some of the others that had come with us also stepped out and went to do their own business, but most of them stayed put.

They took mom, Mr. Large, and me through a door next to the one Tom went through. The lady with the clipboard came to speak with us after we were scanned. "Welcome to our base, Mrs. Morgan, Miss Morgan, and Mr. Large. Please follow me." We followed her through many hallways, and I couldn't help but wonder what was happening to Tom right now. Then, three guards joined us. The woman stopped in a large, empty hallway with many doors. "Mrs. Morgan, you know who wants to see you," she gestured towards a door on the right.

"Of course," mom said and smiled reassuringly at me. "Thank you. I'll see you later Cam." I nodded and smiled back.

The woman turned to Mr. Large. "Mr. Large," she said, "please follow Quintus, who will show you to your debrief." Mr. Large nodded, and then nodded at me. I smiled back, even more nervous than before.

Then she turned towards me. "Miss Morgan, please turn around and put your arms behind your back," she said. It sounded like she wanted to put handcuffs one me.

"Wait what?" I asked, and she repeated herself in a calm but warning voice. My hands had started trembling, but I did as I was told, and I felt her clasp a pair of cuffs to my wrists. "What's going on?" I asked, and now my voice reflected how I felt.

They didn't answer me, but the two guards stood on each of my sides and the woman walked in front of me. We went down and elevator, and every time we passed someone, they'd nod at her and look curiously at me. Still, nobody spoke. We went through a very heavy door, and we were in a hall lined by metal doors, each with a small window. _Cells_, I realized and shivered.

The woman unlocked a door. "In here," she said, and the guards pushed me in. They didn't push me hard enough to fall, but it was clear that they were strong and that I could not run.

"Wait!" I yelled. "What's going on? I mean… You know who I am! Tell me!" I insisted. "I have a right to know why you're locking me in!"

"You are a prisoner of the CIA for the moment, Miss Morgan," she said.

* * *

**What happened? Yeah, like I would tell you ;-) Actually, I have written on, and I'll be posting that once I know that there are people actually reading this story! Anyway... Happy Reviewing!**


	20. Chapter 20: Home for Good

**Yay I am so glad that people are still reading :) So I already posted the next chapter even though I wanted to wait a bit. And yes, the last chapter was supposed to leave you a bit confused... And yes, this chapter does clear that up.**

* * *

"You are a prisoner of the CIA for the moment, Miss Morgan," she said.

"Why?"

"Please, don't make things any harder. Just stay put–"

"Like I have a choice." I interrupted her, but she ignored me.

"And wait until we get things ready. I will see you later." Then she closed the door behind her and locked it.

I probably had time, so I started wondering what I could do and more importantly, what this could be about.

Options a Prisoner of the CIA has when having 

no clue why they're arrested

A list by Cameron Morgan

1. Try to break out and run

2. Try to at least get out of  
my handcuffs which had  
been left on my wrists

3. Yell and scream

5. Do what I was told until they  
got me out and then fight and  
run

I was pretty sure that this room was absolutely break-out-safe and that I would probably die if I tried to run, so options #1 and #4 were no good. Getting out of my handcuffs wouldn't help my situation and possibly make me look like a threat, so option #2 wasn't any good either. Yelling and screaming would tire me out and even if someone heard me, nothing would happen, so option #3 was ruled out. And that only left what I least wanted to do:

5. Do what I was told.

Unfortunately, I wasn't told to do anything for 46 minutes and 32 seconds, when the door opened again. I backed away into a corner and sat down. Then the door opened. It was the woman from before. "Come on Miss Morgan. We need to speak with you."

"And I don't suppose you'll tell me why you locked me up like a prisoner?"

"Just come," she said. Again, two guards stood on either side of me and she walked ahead. No one said a word. She opened a door that said _Interrogation Room 6_, and motioned for me to come in.

There was a metal chair in the room, with a handcuff attached to each arm, and two in the front for the ankles. There was a voice analyzer on a table, and a mirror on a wall, which was clearly one-way glass. I wondered who was behind it. She led me in, and she pointed at the chair. Feeling helpless and cold, I sat in it. Immediately, one of the guards cuffed my ankles, and while the other one held me in an iron grip he un-cuffed my hands from behind my back and put each of my wrists in one of the handcuffs attached to the chair, so that my arms were crossed. Then they went to stand by the door, and she sat in the far more comfy-looking chair across from me. "Will you tell me what this is about _now_?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Good."

She waited and didn't say anything.

"What?" I asked again, clearly more annoyed than before.

"You already know what this is about, Miss Morgan."

"I really don't."

She rolled her eyes, but then she looked at the voice analyzer again. "Hm," was all she said. After a pause, she continued. "It appears that you really don't know what this is about." She stopped again and looked at me. I was starting to want to squirm, but stayed calm. These were just interrogation tactics. "We treated you like a prisoner because we had to investigate if you had any plans and if you were being followed."

"Why? You didn't do that with anybody else!"

"Miss Morgan, you had three trackers on you when you walked in here," she said.

"What?"

"Should I repeat myself?"

I ignored her irony. "Did you just say that I had three trackers? Do you know what I've been doing in the last few weeks?"

"In fact, I don't. But I am aware that you've been running from the Circle of Cavan. Is this correct?"

"Yes!" then it dawned on me. "I thought they had just followed me, but if I had trackers… But they took a while to find me!"

"We need to know why you had trackers."

"I didn't know," I said quietly.

"Is that so?"

"Yes, it is! Where were the trackers anyway? And instead of locking me in a cell, shouldn't you do something _about_ them?"

"The trackers have been disabled Miss Morgan."

"Oh." Yes, that's how stupid I sounded. "Where were they?"

"Shouldn't you know?"

"I think we've established that I really don't know. Which is also why these cuffs are not necessary."

She scoffed. "One of them was in your smaller intestine."

"Does that mean I ate it?"

"Yes Miss Morgan, it certainly does."

"I didn't know."

"The second one was in your bloodstream."

I don't know if it was the cold or the news that the Circle had inserted something into my bloodstream, but a shiver shook me. "And the third one?" I whispered, almost not wanting to know.

"Your spine."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that you have a lot of explaining to do." I was about to say _something_ when she explained, "About what happened after you were taking from the Gallagher Academy."

"Sure. Do you mind unchaining me? And moving to a more comfortable room?" She raised an eyebrow. "Look," I said, my voice slightly sharper than I had intended. "I have been on the run for three weeks, trying to get away from the Circle of Cavan and back to school. I have gotten very little sleep, and since the last time I slept, my friend was kidnapped by said terrorist group, which apparently has put trackers in my bloodstream, digestion system, and _spine_. You know what school I go to, who my parents are, and that I am hunted by the formerly mentioned terrorist group. You know as well as I do that I _don't_ work with them or against the CIA. So is there really a necessity in keeping me like this? I can assure you that I am absolutely willing to give you all information I have, because it will help against the Circle." She raised both eyebrows. "Unless you are convinced that I have been brain washed to feed you false information, please understand that these are seriously bad circumstances for me and do me this favor."

"Alright, I can see your point," she said, and took off the cuffs on my wrists and ankles. My short time as a CIA prisoner was luckily over. "I think that part is over, but we weren't sure if you were aware the trackers were there. Well then, let's move." She stood up and one of the guards opened the door. She led me down several hallways, and then into a far warmer and more luxurious room. "This is my office," she said and pointed at a chair that looked _tons_ more comfortable than my last one. Still, the guards went to stand by the door. I also noticed a similar "mirror" as the one in the last room. "Now please, do tell me about what happened," she said.

"The Circle of Cavan invaded the Gallagher Academy on October 23rd. During the fight, I passed out and I don't know what happened. Me and Amanda Smith woke up on November 4th – well she might have woken up the day before, I'm not sure – and she told me that we were in the town she had grown up in." She didn't stop me once while I told her the story, and took notes throughout. I told her about everything: the people in the town, the shops, the stories, HappyFace13, how we found out it was the Circle's HQ, the man in the flashy car, Tom, Mr. Goode, every detail about how we ran, the tails we had, the FBI, and finally the way Mandy was kidnapped.

"Thank you Miss Morgan," she said and then stood up. I shook her hand. "Please follow me to the hospital wing."

Of course. They still had to get those trackers out of me, even if they were deactivated.

I had changed into a hospital gown that felt really unflattering and exposing, when mom walked in. "Oh goodness Cammie!" she came and hugged me. "Are you okay? If I'd known… I never would've let them…" she sounded horrified and angry.

"Is this about them putting me in a cell?"

"Yes!"

I squeezed her once more. "It's okay."

Then her look became worried again. "Cam, they told me about the procedures. They will first locate the tracker in your digestive system and remove it. It will be the easiest one to remove. Then they will locate the one in your bloodstream, and either remove it or wait until it possibly moves to an easier place – even though they said it's lucky that it hasn't clogged a vein yet… It's probably programmed not to do that. We will see about the one in your spine… They're not sure yet how to proceed. Either way, you will wake up before they attempt anything with that one."

They wheeled in a bed. "Please remove your clothes and lie down, Miss Morgan," one of the nurses said. I did as I was told.

"Love you honey."

"Love you too mom."

They wheeled me through the hallway and in front of a large elevator. One of the two nurses stroked my hair. It felt odd. We went into the elevator, where several other people stared at me, so I closed my eyes. Then they moved me into a hallway with large, metal doors with windows. They almost looked like the cell doors, only the windows were round and didn't have bars. It still felt unfriendly.

We went through a door, and one of the three doctors held the sheets so that I could climb onto the other bed with some privacy. Then he put a needle that was attached to something with an entrance for a vial into my hand, near the base of my thumb, and inserted something in it. Then he and another doctor moved me further away from the door.

"Think of something positive" the third doctor said, "and you will dream of it." I was surprised, but tried to comply. I thought about Bex, Liz, Macey, and Josh. They were safe to think about. The room started spinning. Shouldn't I be falling asleep? Should I say something?

When I woke up, something was blocking my mouth, but I was too busy trying to look away from the too bright lights, and before I knew it, I could open and close my mouth again. "Everything okay?" One of the doctors asked me.

I nodded, because my throat hurt and I didn't want to talk. Then I smiled, hoping to make them happy.

I transferred to another bed and was rolled away by two nurses. Just as we came out of the elevator, I smiled at my mom. She walked back as I was wheeled to my room. I went back into my own bed and pulled on my own pajamas. They gave me something to drink, and she stepped outside.

Long after I was done with my drink, she and the doctor walked in. Both looked a little worried. "We removed the tracker from your intestine, and also the one from your bloodstream, which was luckily just by your left arm." I smiled. I had noticed where they had closed it again. "We also located the one in your spine." The doctor's voice was grave. It is lower than we thought." He paused, and mom looked down. "We cannot immediately perform a surgery like that, so we will have to wait a few days. However, the further the device moves down, the bigger the possibility of you being unable to walk after the operation."

If I couldn't walk, then I couldn't run. And if I couldn't run, they'd get me again. I looked at my mom in fear. "Isn't is possible to just… not do the surgery?" I asked.

He shook his head, but my mom spoke. "I've spoken to the Director, honey. The risk is just too high. We've decided that we'll get it out of you in four days, but to avoid it going any lower you're not allowed to stand up, okay?"

I nodded, not trusting my voice. Then I took a deep breath. "Will I stay here?" the room suddenly seemed too small and claustrophobic.

"There's no need for that. We'll go back to Gallagher; the operation can just as well be done there. You'll just remain in bed."

I felt a tiny bit better. Okay, it was more than a tiny bit. Way more.

"Let's go," she said and a nurse brought the bed with wheels close again so that I could move onto it.

* * *

**No longer in prison but in serious danger... If you had the choice, which one would you rather be in? Well, hopefully you'll never have to make that choice. I'm so happy people are still reading, so happy reviewing!**


End file.
